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GENERAL 
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN 





fiOK t03URT IVoODBU/fy 




C/f/l/fl£5N.H^//VC/y£3T£/^ 



SHERIDAN MONUMENT COMMISSION 



S rn T7, 1 OAajuxj^l^^ 6t -> V ryv^u lyi 



t/VbU l/L'~^^ f^ i^ '-'^ '^'~y'^ 06' l/U'l 



UNVEILING 



OF THE 



EQUESTRIAN STATUE 



OF 



GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN 



CAPITOL PARK 


ALBANY, NEW 


YORK 


OCTOBER 7, 


1916 


BY THE 




CITIZENS OF ALBANY 


AND THE 




STATE OF NEW 


YORK 



aS55 



By 7VB.nrtf«r 

NOV 22 ]92C 



STATE OF NEW YORK 
SHERIDAN MONUMENT COMMISSION 



Authorized by Chapter 100, Laws of 1914, for the Erection of a Monument to 

the Memory of General Phihp H. Sheridan in Capitol Park 

in the City of Albany 




COMMISSION 

HON. CHARLES S. WHITMAN, Govemor , Chairman 
HON. EDWARD SCHOENECK, Lieulenant-Governor 
HON. EGBURT WOODBURY, Atlornev-General 
HON. THADDEUS C. SWEET, Speaker of Assembly 

EDWARD B. CANTINE 
CHARLES M. WINCHESTER 
JOHN FARNSWORTH 

Members Sheridan Camp Sons of Veterans 



CONTENTS 

Page 

General Philip H. Sheridan - - - - _ - 11 

Origin of Movement ----___ 21 

Governor Glynn's Address ----- 23 

Report of Committee ------ 31 

Appeal by the JNIayor ----- _ 49 

John Quincy Adams Ward ------ 41 

Daniel Chester French -------45 

Henry Bacon -----_._ 4^ 

Parade and Unveiling ------.49 

Mayor's Proclamation Urging Half-Holiday - - 50 

Introductory Address by Edward B. Cantine - - 57 

Address by Mayor Stevens - - - - _ Qi 

Mr. Loucks Presents the Statue - - - - 63 

Address by Governor Whitman - - - - 54 

Address by S. Parks Cadm an, D. U. - - - - 69 

Address by Hon. Martin H. Glynn - - - 77 

Address by Col. Zan L. Tidball - - - - 86 

Reception at Executive Mansion ----- 91 

Dinner at the Ten Eyck ------- 93 

Remarks by William Barnes - - - . 93 

Remarks by General J. Warren Keifer - - - 100 

Remarks by Hon. Benjamin B. Odell - - - 105 

Incidents of the Unveiling Ceremonies - - - - 109 

Sheridan's Ride -----___ ^15 

Law Authorizing the Monument - - - - - 119 

List of Committees - - - - _ - _ ^gj 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Sheridan Statue ------- 

Sheridan Monument Commission - - - 

Sheridan Statue in Capitol Park - - _ _ 

Flood Lightino- of Sheridan Statue - - _ 

John Quincv Adams Ward - - - _ _ 

Daniel Chester French - - _ _ _ 

Henry Bacon ---____ 

Exercises in Capitol Park . _ . _ 

Official Party in Executive Chamber . _ _ 

The State Commission in the Executive Chamber - 
Chorus of Children of Public Schools on Capitol Steps 
Plate on the Pedestal ------ 



Page 

Frontispiece 
Facing' 3 
11 
21 
41 
45 
47 
57 
64 
91 
109 
119 



GENERAL 
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN 

PHILIP H. SHERIDAN was bom March 6, 1831, on one 
of the oldest streets of Albany which during its history 
has borne four different names. Originally it was 
known as Howe street, apparently named in honor of Lord 
George Augustus Howe, the British officer, well known in 
Albany when the city was British territory, and who was 
killed at Ticonderoga in 1758 when leading his men to attack 
the French under Montcalm. 

September 11, 1790, when Albany had become part of the 
American Republic, Howe street became Fox street and as 
such it was known when Sheridan was born in 1831. About 
ten or eleven years later the name was again changed to Canal 
street. After Sheridan became famous the name of the street 
was for the third time changed, this time to Sheridan avenue. 
John and Mary Sheridan, father and mother of the great 
soldier, came to Albany from Ireland a year previous to the 
birth of their son. They had been induced to come to Albany 
by a relative, then a resident of the city, by the name of 
Thomas Gainor. The Sheridan family remained in Albany 
about two years and then moved to the village of Somerset, 
Perry county, Ohio. Philip at the time of this change was 
about a year old. Somerset people for many years after 
Sheridan became a national figure claimed him as one of their 
native sons but all doubts on this question were removed 

11 



when the general in his personal memoirs set it down that he 
was bom in Albany. Somerset still is a small place of about 
1,500 population, thirty miles southeast of Columbus, the 
capital of the state. It was in such an environment that 
Phil Sheridan grew up as a lad and was educated in the public 
schools. When 14 years old he began work in a grocery store 
at $24 a year. He soon received a higher salary from a com- 
peting merchant and was serving as clerk and bookkeeper 
when he was enthused by accounts of the Mexican war, then 
going on, to apply to Congressman Thomas Richey of the 
district for a cadetship at West Point. He had to study hard 
to fit himself for the entrance examination but " Little Phil " 
proved himself equal to the task. He relates briefly how in 
1848, when he was 17 years old, he began the journey to West 
Point. First he went north, presumably by stage, to Cleve- 
land, thence by boat to Buffalo. From there he had the 
choice of the Erie canal and the railroad — such as it was in 
those days — on which to continue the journey. He tells us 
that, as he wanted to stop off at Albany to visit his father's 
uncle, Thomas Gainor, he elected to travel by rail." How 
much time he saved by this he does not say, but that the 
railroads were not very speedy, compared with latter day 
schedules, may be understood from the fact that it required 
seventeen hours to make the trip from Buffalo to Albany in 
1848. It now takes the Empire State express six hours to 
make the same trip. 

Sheridan does not make any further reference to his visit 
to Albany in 1848. In the Albany directory of that year the 
name of " Gainor " does not appear. There is, however, a 
Thomas Gaynor, a grocer, whose address is given as 34 Quay 
street. This was near the northwest corner of Maiden Lane 

12 



on the river front and is now occupied by the Delaware and 
Hudson railroad. It is surmised that this was the place where 
Phil stopped while in Albany. 

At West Point he had for his roommate Henry W. Slocum, 
afterwards a distinguished officer of the Civil War. Sheridan 
tells in his memoirs how Slocum helped him in his studies, 
especially with algebra. 

Philip H. Sheridan was graduated in the class of 1853, five 
years after he had entered the academy. Ordinarily he should 
have been graduated in 1852 but the general himself tells 
why he was a year late. Angered at what he considered the 
arbitrary command of a superior officer while drilling, Little 
Phil made a personal attack on the officer when he next met 
him. For this breach of discipline he was suspended from 
the academy and he returned to his mercantile employment 
at Somerset for nine months. 

After his graduation in 1853 he was assigned to military 
duty in Texas and other points in the West, including Oregon. 

When the Civil War broke out, in 1861, Sheridan was first 
lieutenant, and in May of that year was commissioned a 
captain. He was assigned to duty as chief quartermaster and 
commissary in southwestern Missouri. In this position there 
was no opportunity for Sheridan to prove his real worth as a 
daring, conquering soldier. It was not until May, 1862, that 
the real turning point in his career came. He was then 
appointed colonel of the Second Michigan Cavalry, and on 
July 1st was sent to make a raid on the Confederates at Boone- 
ville, Miss. He was so successful in this and other operations 
in what was known as the Mississippi campaign that five 
brigadier-generals sent a telegram to Major-General Halleck, 
at Washington, D. C, urging the promotion of Colonel 

13 



Sheridan. The telegram was dated July 30, 1862, and read: 
" Brigadiers scarce. Good ones scarcer. The undersigned 
respectfully beg that you will obtain the promotion of Sher- 
idan. He is worth his weight in gold." The telegram was 
signed by W. S. Rosecrans and four other brigadier-generals. 
The appeal resulted in the promotion of Sheridan, and because 
of his services at the battle of Perryville he was commissioned 
a major-general of volunteers December 30, 1862. 

He assisted General Thomas in the battle of Chickamauga. 
At Chattanooga he first attracted the attention of General 
Grant. This led to the transfer of General Sheridan to Vir- 
ginia in April, 1864, as commander of the cavalry corps. Then 
came another series of great victories for " Little Phil " which 
electrified the North. He was conspicuous in the battles of 
the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. 

In addition to having won the reputation of being a fearless 
and successful leader. General Sheridan was known to be very 
careful of his men. He believed that nothing was too good 
for them, and thus won their confidence and affection. 

In May, 1864, he raided the Confederate communications 
around Richmond, destroying ten miles of track on three 
important railroads, cutting the telegraph wires, capturing 
several trains, and causing much alarm in the Confederate 
capital. On May 28th he fought the battle of Hawes's Shop, 
and June 11th that of Trevilian's Station. Nearly every day 
in May, June and July Sheridan's cavalry was engaged with 
the Confederate troops or raiding their communications. On 
August 7, 1864, he was placed in command of the Army of the 
Shenandoah, with instructions to clear the Confederates out 
of the valley. He defeated Early at Winchester, September 
19th, and at Fisher's Hill September 22d, and was rewarded 

14 



by being made a brigadier-general in the regular army. After 
the battle of Fisher's Hill he laid waste, upon the order of 
General Grant, the Shenandoah valley. Practically every- 
thing destructible was destroyed, and the horses, cattle and 
sheep were driven out. His object in devastating the country 
was to prevent future expeditions by the Confederates up the 
valley by destroying the means of subsistence. 

In October, Sheridan's army was surprised at Cedar Creek 
and was being driven back in disorder when the general made 
his famous ride from Winchester, ''twenty miles away," 
rallied his discouraged men and administered a staggering 
blow to the army of General Early. The incident, more than 
any other of Sheridan's career, stands out in the public mind 
because of the celebrated poem of Thomas Buchanan Read, 
who immortalized the ride. 

Sheridan slept at Winchester the night before the battle, 
having just returned from Washington where he had a con- 
ference with President Lincoln. He was awakened early by 
one of his men, who told him he could hear the sound of guns 
in the direction of Cedar Creek, but that the firing seemed to 
be desultory and not sustained enough to indicate that a real 
battle was on. But the general was unable to rest and, accom- 
panied by his staf¥, mounted his black horse Rienzi and was 
soon galloping toward Cedar Creek. Wagons containing 
wounded soldiers were encountered, and Sheridan learned from 
the panic-stricken men in retreat that his army had met with 
a serious defeat. At first he and his staff kept to the road, 
but the highway soon became so choked with wagons that to 
make speedy headway they had to take to the fields. After 
the wounded had been passed Sheridan and his men returned 
to the road. When the uninjured men saw Sheridan they 

15 



began to cheer, and he urged them to turn back assuring 
them they would be on their old camp ground again that 
night. 

His first thought, he said, in view of the general retreat was 
to rally the men at Winchester and make a stand against 
General Early there. But on further deliberation, and assured 
by the confidence the men showed in him, he shouted to the 
returning soldiers: " If I had been with you this morning 
this disaster would not have happened. We must face the 
other way. We will go back and recover our camp." The 
men replied with a cheer and began to retrace their steps. 

Sheridan was obliged to make a detour at Newtown, because 
of the crowded condition of the streets. While on this detour 
he met Major William McKinley of Ohio, afterwards President 
of the United States. Major McKinley promptly spread the 
news among the soldiers that Sheridan had returned and 
wanted them to face the other way. Sheridan continued 
toward the extreme front where he met Col. Rutherford B. 
Hayes who, twelve years later, was elected President of the 
United States. Colonel Hayes was a brigade commander, 
and immediately backed up Sheridan in rallying the men to 
meet the enemy. 

Another officer, afterwards famous as a soldier in the West, 
in the thick of the fight at Cedar Creek was Gen. George A. 
Custer. It was Major Forsyth who urged Sheridan to ride 
along the line of battle in front of the troops so they could 
all see him, for although they had learned of his return only 
a few had seen him. 

With hat in hand Little Phil thereupon rode along the 
entire infantry line and the effect on the soldiers was what 
Major Forsyth expected. From discouraged, weary men they 

16 



instantly became fired with enthusiasm and ready to follow 
their leader into the fray. 

Many thought this was the first appearance of Sheridan 
on the field, but the truth is he already had been two hours 
at the front rallying the men before he ordered the attack. 
By this time the enemy was approaching and Sheridan in the 
rear center directed the fight. General Early was forced, to 
retire for the day. Meanwhile Sheridan reformed and strength- 
ened his line and led the assault upon Early, defeating and 
pursuing him until the Confederates were completely routed. 

October 22d President Lincoln sent the following telegram 
to Sheridan : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C. 

Major-General Sheridan: 

With great pleasure I tender to you and your brave army 
the thanks of the nation and my own personal admiration and 
gratitude for the month's operations in the Shenandoah Valley 
and especially for the splendid work of October 19, 1864. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

The victory at Cedar Creek had won for Little Phil another 
promotion, the President bestowing upon him a major-general- 
ship in the regular army. 

From February 27 to March 24, 1865, Sheridan made a 
raid from Winchester to Petersburg, cutting three railroads, 
two canals and telegraph wires, destroying supplies, and leav- 
ing only one line of railroad by which supplies could be brought 
to Lee's army. During this raid he defeated Early again at 
Waynesborough. At Five Forks April 1st Sheridan turned 
Lee's flank, forcing him to evacuate Petersburg and begin the 
retreat to Appomatox. 

17 



April 6th President Lincoln in a telegram to Grant quoted 
from a message he had received from Sheridan as follows: 
"Attacked and routed them handsomely, capturing six gen- 
erals and 1,000 prisoners. If the thing is pressed I think Lee 
will surrender." To which the President adds to Grant: 
" Let the thing be pressed." 

April 9th Lee surrendered, and on April 14th Lincoln was 
assassinated at Washington. 

Sheridan was present at the surrender of Lee, which con- 
summation he had done so much to bring about. 

Perusal of Lincoln's messages during the closing year of his 
life shows that the activities of Sheridan were prominently in 
his thoughts, and that he shared with Grant a great admira- 
tion for Little Phil. On August 3, 1864 — eight months 
before the surrender of Lee — Grant telegraphed to President 
Lincoln : 

I want Sheridan put in command of all the troops in the 
field with instructions to put himself south of the enemy and 
follow him to the death. Wherever the enemy goes let our 
troops go also. 

This plan was acceded to by President Lincoln and the 
brilliant series of victories in the Shenandoah Valley, pre- 
ceding the surrender, quickly followed. 

In their life of Lincoln, Nicolay and Hay, in referring to 
Grant's selection of Sheridan for the Shenandoah campaign, 
pay him this high complimxcnt: 

Grant had at last in command of the forces in the Shenan- 
doah a soldier who possessed his utmost confidence and affec- 
tion. Sheridan was then 33 years old, small and compact 
in stature; not carrying an ounce of superfluous flesh; unpre- 
tending in manner but quick to assert all proper authority; 

18 



absolutely at home in the saddle and seemingly incapable of 
fatigue; an eye for topography as keen and far-reaching as an 
eagle's, and that gift for inspiring immediate confidence in all 
around him, which is the most inestimable of all possessions 
of a soldier. 

Another writer says that Sheridan was the Hannibal of the 
American war : 

Full of the magnificent passion of battle, as everyone knows, 
riding around with his sword drawn, rising in his stirrups, 
grasping a battle-flag, turning disaster into victory, or pursuing 
the enemy with the terror and speed of a Nemesis, he was also 
abundant in caution, wily as an Indian, original and astound- 
ing in his strategy — always deceiving as well as overwhelming 
the enemy. It was not only his personal courage and magnetic 
bearing, his chivalric presence and intense enthusiasm, which 
produced his great results. He was a great commander of 
modern times; learned in the maneuvers and practice which 
require intellectual keenness and comprehensive calculation. 
The combination which he employed in all his greatest battles 
are strokes of military genius almost matchless in our time. 

Sheridan's military career did not end with the Civil War. 
He was needed immediately in the South during the stormy 
days of reconstruction. He wanted to be in Washington to 
lead his men down Pennsylvania avenue in the memorable 
parade of soldiers at the close of the war, but Grant ordered 
him to New Orleans, where the country needed him. He was 
in command of the departments of the Gulf, the Missouri and 
Mississippi. During that time — from 1865 to 1870 — he did 
much to restore order in the South, and part of the time was 
engaged in repelling Indian hostilities. 

Grant was inaugurated president in 1869; Sherman was 
advanced to general -in-chief of the army, and Sheridan pro- 

19 



moted to lieutenant-general, with the understanding that both 
titles were to disappear with the men upon whom they had 
been bestowed. 

When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, in 1870, Sheridan 
visited Europe and, attached to the King of Prussia's staff, 
saw all the great battles from the Prussian side. He met the 
King of Prussia, grandfather of the present Kaiser; Prince 
Bismarck, General Von Moltke and all the other high officials 
of Germany. Bismarck, he said, was very anxious to know 
whether America blamed France or Prussia for bringing on 
the war. Sheridan was presented to the king in a grove of 
poplars, near one of the battlefields. The king took both 
hands of Sheridan in his and inquired about affairs in America. 
The king was then about 73 years old. Von Moltke was the 
only one in the group of distinguished Germans who could 
speak English. 

Referring to his European trip, Sheridan said : 

I returned to America in the fall, having been absent a little 
more than a year, and although I saw much abroad of absorb- 
ing interest, both professional and general, yet I came back 
to my native land with even a greater love for her and with 
increased admiration for her institutions. 

General Sheridan was married at Chicago, June 3, 1875, to 
Miss Irene Rucker, daughter of Gen. Daniel H. Rucker, of the 
United States army. During that year he was again sent to 
New Orleans on account of the political riots in that city. 
In 1878 he commanded the eastern and southwestern military 
divisions; and in 1883 he succeeded Gen. William T. Sherman, 
who retired, as head of the army. 

General Sheridan spent the last years of his life in Wash- 
ington. He had a summer home at Nonquitt, Mass., where 
he died August 5, 1888, at the age of 57 years and 5 months. 

20 




FLOOD LIGHTING OF SHERIDAN STATUE 



ORIGIN OF MOVEMENT 

Albany, the birthplace of many citizens who have 

yV risen to eminence in the nation and the world, counts 

among its native sons Philip H. Sheridan, one of the 

great military heroes of the Civil War. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 

said of him : 

As a soldier there is no man living greater than Sheridan. 
He belongs to the very first rank of captains, not only of our 
army, but of the world. I rank him with Napoleon and 
Frederick, and the great commanders of history. 

Little wonder that Albany is proud of Sheridan. Twenty- 
nine years after his death the people of the capital city, 
assisted by the State, erected to the memory of " Little Phil," 
as he was affectionately called by his comrades, one of the 
finest equestrian statues in bronze in the United States. 
They placed it, too, in the most conspicuous spot in Capitol 
Park, in front of the State capitol, which is within a few blocks 
from the location where Sheridan was born in 183 L 

It is well that the achievements of men distinguished in 
their day be seen in the perspective before their grateful 
fellow citizens attempt to give fit expression of their appreci- 
ation. It may be truly said of Sheridan that the passing of 
the years since the close of his marvelous military career but 
add to the lustre of his glory and justify the estimate of Grant, 
as well as of other famous soldiers who served with him in the 

21 



war. Albany waited nearly thirty years before it raised a 
statue in bronze to the memory of an honored son, but the 
lapse of time added to the fame of Philip H. Sheridan and 
gave him a firmer hold upon the gratitude of the people. 

This volume is intended to set forth the history of the 
initiation and carrying out of the plan to erect the Sheridan 
monument. It tells of the enthusiastic men and women who 
participated in the work of gathering the funds; the selection 
of the sculptor; the preparation for the unveiling ceremony; 
the presence of veterans who were comrades-in-arms with 
Sheridan, and the eloquent addresses by the Governor of the 
State and other distinguished persons October 7, 1916, the 
date of the unveiling. 

For years there had been talk among Albanians, proud of 
the distinction won by General Sheridan, of erecting a monu- 
ment in Albany to perpetuate his memory, and although 
several efforts were made, following his death, to do this, the 
idea did not take tangible form until February 11, 1914. 
On the evening of that day Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, 
Sons of Veterans, had its annual dinner at the Ten Eyck 
hotel, Albany, at which Governor Martin H. Glynn was the 
principal speaker. Governor Glynn's subject was " Abraham 
Lincoln," and during the course of his address he referred to 
the great career of Sheridan and suggested the propriety of 
the Camp, which bore the name of Albany's illustrious soldier, 
initiating a public movement for the erection of a monument. 



22 



GOVERNOR GLYNN'S ADDRESS 

Governor Glynn's address which started the movement for 
the erection of the statue was as follows: 

I came here tonight to start a movement too long delayed. 

This old town is the birthplace of the greatest, or if not the 
greatest, the second greatest, cavalry leader in the history of 
the world. 

'' Little Phil " Sheridan was born here on March 6, 1831. 
He was small in stature — so small that before he took his 
West Point physical examination he was stretched all night 
so as to be tall enough to pass muster in the morning. But 
so was Napoleon small — and Napoleon's big brother-in-law, 
Murat, is the only cavalry leader who can share the laurel 
wreath of excellence with " Little Phil " Sheridan. 

For a long time Ohio claimed Sheridan as one of her native 
sons, but Ohio has produced so many presidents that she has 
the habit of claiming everything great. New York State, too, 
claimed Sheridan as her own. " Little Phil " settled the con- 
troversy in his autobiography. He stated he was born in 
Albany. He had it from his mother, and his mother ought 
to know. Ohio has erected a statue to her famous adopted 
son; New York should erect a statue to the native son wha 
has thrown a glamour around our military annals. 

It has been against our State legislative policy to appro- 
priate money for statues to the noted sons of different locali- 
ties in this State. I suppose the reason has been that New 
York has produced so many famous sons that there would 
not be money enough to go around. So, tonight I suggest a 

23 



new policy. I suggest that New York contribute two dollars 
to every one dollar a locality raises to erect a statue to a really 
great son. Thirty thousand dollars, they tell me, will erect 
an appropriate statue to Phil Sheridan. If the people of 
Albany will contribute $10,000 — and I will help raise this 
through my newspaper and otherwise — I promise to exert all 
the influence I can from the governor's chair to induce the 
legislature to appropriate the other $20,000. 

State pride and local pride demand that this be done. It 
is a shame that a statue of Sheridan, New York's most illus- 
trious soldier, was not erected years ago here in Albany on 
the Capitol lawn. Too long has this wrong continued; it 
cannot be righted too soon. Too long has New York State 
failed to honor the memory of a son whom all the rest of the 
world has honored in story and in song. Every school child 
knows by heart Read's stirring poem on Sheridan's ride to 
Cedar Creek from twenty miles away. It was the poem with 
which I broke into the world of oratory thirty years ago in 
a country schoolhouse in the town of Kinderhook. I got 
Little Phil started from Winchester all right and landed 
him within fifteen miles of the battlefield with oratorical 
thunder. Then I landed him within ten miles of the battle- 
field, but my oratory commenced to have an uncertain echo 
and the echo grew more wavering as I landed Phil within 
five miles of the battlefield, when I broke down, became con- 
fused, forgot my lines, and despite the best that I could do 
Little Phil and his fiery charger are still five miles away from 
Cedar Creek. 

Every man and every woman knows the gallant part played 
by this little son of Albany in the closing scenes of the awful 
tragedy of the Civil War. Had there been no Sheridan to 
help Grant the war would have lasted longer than it did. 
Let us not leave it for the lips of children in recitative school 

24 



hours to sing the glories of this hero ! Let us not leave it for 
bookworms to contemplate in darkened libraries the valor of 
this man ! Let us write his glory and his valor in a gallant 
figure of bronze before our Capitol on the hill, so that all 
the world may see him as his soldiers knew him — and all the 
world know him as his soldiers knew him — mounted on 
the fieriest steed he could find, with his cap in his hand and 
an invitation on his lips to follow him to glory and to fame. 

No need is there, here or anywhere, for me or any one else 
to narrate the deeds of Sheridan as a soldier. The lark sings 
because he must, and Sheridan fought for the samie reason. 
His father and his mother came from County Cavan, Ireland; 
and that is explanation enough. Another Irishman, named 
Gainor, was responsible for their coming to Albany. When 
" Little Phil " was a mere tot the family moved to Somerset, 
Ohio, and here the boy was father of the man. He was pepper- 
ish, black-haired, rosy cheeked, sturdy, pugnacious and pas- 
sionately fond of horses. His mother was a woman of good 
sense, big heart and much practical knowledge. His father 
built his own house, chopped down the trees of the forest 
with his own hands, and plastered his cabin with mud from 
the fields to keep out the wintry blasts. There were four 
boys and one girl in the family, but " Little Phil " had so much 
ginger and go in his make-up that there was little left for the 
others. 

When seven years of age some fellow youngsters in Somer- 
set dared him mount a stray horse with only a halter upon 
its neck. No sooner dared than " Little Phil " was upon his 
horse, gave him a dig with his heels and clung on by the mane 
as the horse thundered down the street, terrifying the villagers 
and knocking down an old apple-man in his flight. Never 
has there been such a ride since John Gilpin indulged in his 
famous flight. Mile after mile passed as the half wild steed 



fled into the open country endeavoring to unseat " Little 
Phil " at every bound, but " Little Phil " could not be 
unseated. Wearied of his efforts the horse bolted into the 
yard of a wayside inn and the bystanders lifted the youngster 
to the ground. There, before the admiring crowd stood 
" Little Phil " with a grin on his face. " Who on earth taught 
you to rider " asked one of the crowd. 

" Nobody," answered " Little Phil," " I just knowed how. 
For Willie Seymour said that the way to ride was to hold on 
with your knees — and I did." This remark was greeted with 
laughter and one appreciative old fellow cried out, " I tell you 
men that kid will be heard from some day. He's as sandy a 
youngster as I ever knowed." Yes, the boy was father of 
the man. No horse ever could throw Phil Sheridan. Others 
surpassed him in studies at West Point, but he led them all 
in horsemanship, and later on he was called the best horseman 
in the Civil War. Yes, the boy was father of the man; he 
was sandy as a youngster and a dare-devil as a man. 

Phil Sheridan never ran from an enemy but once in his 
life. He was about eight or nine years of age. He whipped 
a schoolm^ate named Home, and gave him a bloody nose. 
Home was a special pet of the crusty old schoolmaster, 
McManly, who started out to whip " Little Phil " for having 
whipped young Home. Phil climbed the fence of the school 
yard. When McManly appeared, rod in hand, and on ven- 
geance bent, Phil dropped from the fence and ran as fast as 
his little legs could carry him. McManly gave chase. Phil 
took refuge in a tinsmith shop and hid under a big* boiler. 
Years afterward he said: " Being under fire at Winchester and 
Cedar Creek was not half as bad as hiding from McManly's 
switch under that old tin boiler." 

Phil Sheridan always was a fighter. At West Point he was 
suspended for a year for whipping a fellow student. I don't 

26 



know whether Phil was right or wrong, and just because he 
won is no proof that he was right, for in a fight Phil always 
won. It was a habit he had. 

He hated laziness and lazy men. While fighting the Yakima 
Indians in Washington territory he became disgusted with the 
laziness of his men and one day determined to shame them. 
So, in the morning at roll-call, he tried to do so. 

" I have a nice easy job," he said, " for the laziest man in 
the company. Will the laziest man step to the front? " 

Instantly fifty-nine men stepped forward. 

" Why don't you step to the front, too? " he asked of the 
sixtieth. 

" I'm too lazy," replied the soldier. And from that day 
forward " Little Phil " never tried to cure that company of 
laziness. 

He did not know what fear meant. He was so reckless in 
his bravery that it is a wonder he ever came out of the Civil 
War alive. An old darky who often saw him in action said, 
" Dat Phil Sheridan's got luck of the debbil wid him, an' dat 
only comes when you carry er rabbit's foot in yer lef han' 
pocket. He's de mos' keerless pusson in de middle of bullets 
I ever seen." He was a natural soldier and lucky enough to 
fall into the niche for which nature had fitted him. He once 
said, " A man's life is in the open. There is too much civiliza- 
tion for the average individual; it makes him love comfort 
more than a house cat." He was too wise to risk a glorious 
military career on the troublous sea of politics. Once, when 
asked to become a candidate for the presidency, he replied: 
"No man could present me with that office. The place- 
hunters and the office-seekers would kill me in thirty days." 
He thought quickly and acted as quickly as he thought. He 
despised councils of war and held them almost useless. He 
loved his men, and his men loved him. He sleeps at Arlington, 

27 



on a hillside at whose base ripples the Potomac, and on whose 
crest stands the old home of Robert E. Lee, whom he helped 
more to conquer than any man save Grant. Not far away 
stretch tlie valleys of Virginia, through which he rode in 
triumph. 

In the beautiful spring days of the years I represented this 
district in Congress I often visited the grave of Sheridan. I 
went there one Memorial Day to place a wreath upon his 
tomb. I found it mantled with flowers — with red roses and 
white lilies, and blue violets, the red, the white and the blue 
he loved so well. 

Some of the old boys who followed him in the Shenandoah 
Valley were there ahead of me. They still lingered around 
his grave — old boys in new blue suits and new gilt cords 
around old slouch hats — and from their reverential mood and 
far-away gaze I thought they saw old scenes anew and heard 
again the shouts of clashing armies, the clarion call of the 
bugle, the roll of the drum and the shock of bursting shells. 
But all that I could hear was the twitter of a bird perched in 
the mouth of a nearby cannon; all that I could see were shim- 
mering shafts of sunshine shooting between the leaves o'er 
head and weaving a crown of glory above the grave, while a 
beautiful butterfly — Egyptian symbol of immortality — 
fluttered in and out among the golden rays of light. 

Nature crowned him and history honored him. Dessaix's 
timely arrival turned defeat into victory for Napoleon at 
Marengo; Grant's forced march saved the day for Sherman at 
Shiloh; the Irish brigade arrived just in time to save Fontenoy 
from becoming a rout for the French; Wellington at Waterloo 
prayed for Blucher or for darkness, and Blucher came not a 
moment too soon; but Sheridan, single-handed and alone, 
turned a routed army into a victorious host as no other man 
has ever done it. Cedar Creek is the most picturesque, the 

28 



most poetic and the most individualistic victory in warfare 
Its thrill will never die and its story never grow old. 

It took Lincoln, the son of an illiterate backwoodsman; 
Grant, the son of a tanner; Sherman, the poor orphan 
boy; and Sheridan, the son of an Irish immigrant laborer, 
to lead the hosts of the people to victory and the abolition 
of slavery. 

Lincoln is honored everywhere throughout the land. 

Grant has a mausoleum in New York. 

Sherman has a statue at the entrance to Central Park. 

Let us erect a statue to Sheridan here in the city of his birth ! 



Governor Glynn's speech was received with enthusiasm, and 
upon motion of J. Harris Loucks, a member of the Camp, a 
committee was appointed to take the necessary steps toward 
carrying out the plan. A committee of 'well-known Albany 
citizens was named, with Governor Glynn as honorary chair- 
man. Another committee, known as the " Officers, Joint 
Citizens and Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, Sons of Vet- 
erans, Sheridan Monument Committee," was formed, of 
which Mayor Joseph W. Stevens, of Albany, was chairman. 
These committees acted in unison. Mayor Stevens was one 
of " Sheridan's boys " and served with " Little Phil " through- 
out the Shenandoah Valley campaign, the conduct of which 
covered the name of Sheridan with glory. 

At the Lincoln dinner above mentioned Governor Glynn ^ 
in discussing the subject with Edward B. Cantine, commander 
of the Philip H. Sheridan Camp, said that if the committees 
raised $10,000 toward the erection of the statue he would do 
what he could to induce the legislature to pass a bill appro- 
priating $20,000 for the purpose. The $10,000 was speedily 

29 



raised from the generous people of Albany, and the State 
added the $20,000, the act of the legislature also providing for 
a commission of seven to carry out its provisions. 

That commission consisted of Hon. Martin H. Glynn, 
Governor; Hon. Robert F. Wagner, acting Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor; Hon. Thaddeus C. Sweet, speaker of the assembly (these 
three officers constituting the trustees of public buildings); 
Hon. Thomas Carmody, Attorney-General; Edward B. Can- 
tine, Charles M. Winchester and John Farnsworth. The three 
latter were appointed by the Governor as members of the 
Sheridan Camp, Sons of Veterans. 

The committees named at the Lincoln dinner appointed a 
subcommittee of five members to inquire into the subject of 
erecting the monument. The names of these members were: 
J. Harris Loucks, chairman; Rollin B. Sanford, Edgar A. 
Vander Veer, M.D., Ben V. Smith and John Farnsworth. 

The report of this subcommittee, made April 4, 1914, less 
than two months from the date of launching the movement, 
is an interesting document and admirably sums up the work 
of the members. The committee during its investigation had 
the good fortune to hear of a plaster model statue of General 
Sheridan by the late John Quincy Adams Ward, an intimate 
friend of Sheridan, which could be procured and erected in 
Albany, under the direction of Daniel C. French, the eminent 
sculptor. This statue in bronze was finally contracted for at 
a cost of $25,000, set up in Albany. 

The committee's report was: 



30 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE 

To Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, Sons of Veterans, 
AND THE Citizens' Committee for the Erection of a 
Monument to the Memory of General Philip H. 
Sheridan, in Capitol Park, in the City of Albany: 

Gentlemen. — Your committee as a subcommittee charged 
with the duty of making due inquiry and reporting to the 
joint committee in the matter of the erection of a monument 
to the memory of Gen. Phihp H. Sheridan, in Capitol Park, 
in the city of Albany, respectfully report as follows: 

It was determined in view of the military record of General 
Sheridan, one of the three great soldiers produced by the 
North in the Civil War, that no monument to his memory' 
would be sufficient or worthy of the place of his birth and the 
capital of the Empire State, other than a bronze equestrian 
statue of heroic size. 

That led your committee to an inquiry as to the expense 
of an equestrian statue such as the situation demanded, and 
into the possibility of its procuring, at a fair and reasonable 
cost, the services of some distinguished American sculptor 
whose known public work would mark him as capable of 
executing such an important commission. We found that 
there were but few equestrian statues in the United States, 
and that while many sculptors were willing to try their 'pren- 
tice hand on the problem at our expense, and would endeavor 
to erect an equestrian statue which might or might not be a 

31 



great work of art, that those whose equestrian statue work 
was known and acceptable from an art standpoint were very 
limited, and that such by reason of their standing w^ere either 
engaged for years ahead or did not seek the responsibilities 
of equestrian art work unless their compensation was such 
as to warrant their foregoing all other commissions while 
they were engaged thereon. 

Your committee next considered the question of the cost 
of a heroic bronze equestrian statue, and we learned that they 
were very costly and that, unless something fortuitous came 
to pass, it was not at all probable that one of great and suffi- 
cient merit could be erected within the appropriation and 
private subscription therefor contemplated by the legislative 
act providing for its erection. 

The equestrian statue of General Sheridan in Washington 
cost the government $54,000; the McClellan statue, $65,000; 
the General Draper statue, by Daniel C. French, $50,000; 
the Sherman statue in New York, by St. Gaudens, we are 
informed, cost $100,000. 

The cost of single-figure standing statues was not less. 
Mr. French was paid $50,000 for a bronze Lincoln, erected 
in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the standing Lincoln in Chicago, 
we are told, cost $100,000. Good art is expensive, but the 
best is none too good to memorialize our dead hero. 

We then became aware of the existence in plaster and ready 
for enlargement of a completed model of an equestrian statue 
of General Sheridan by John Quincy Adams Ward, which 
had been made upon the order of the Society of the Army of 
the Cumberland, for erection in Washington, and which could 
be procured and erected in the city of Albany under the direc- 
tion and supervision of Daniel C. French, America's most 

32 



eminent sculptcr, at the mere cost of its erection, plus a small 
honorarium to the widow of Mr. Ward. 

We then inquired concerning the statue, the art history of 
the sculptor and the artistic merit of the work itself. Con- 
cerning the sculptor and the statue we learned the following: 

John Quincy Adams Ward was born in Urbana, Ohio, on 
June 29, 1830. He studied under and assisted H. K. Brown 
in the making of the bronze equestrian statue of Washington, 
in Union Square, New York city, in the early fifties, and 
his career as a sculptor from that time until his death in 
1910, covering a period of over sixty years, was one of most 
pronounced success. He was recognized as one of America's 
greatest sculptors, and his many works scattered throughout 
the Union testify to the appreciation in which he was held by 
the public and by his associates. 

He was the president of the National Sculptors Society, 
a National Academician and a trustee of many art societies 
and institutions, where his advice and ripened experience 
were greatly sought and always followed. Among his public 
statues may be mentioned the colossal Washington on the 
steps of the Subtreasury in 'New York city; Henry Ward 
Beecher in the City Hall Park, Brooklyn; Commodore Perry, 
Newport; Israel Putnam, Hartford; Gen. George H. Thomas, 
Washington; Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, Philadelphia, and the 
figures in the pediment in the Stock Exchange, New York city. 

John Quincy Adams Ward and Gen. Philip H. Sheridan 
were great friends, and the general upon various occasions 
expressed to Mr. Ward his desire that when it came to pass 
that a statue would be erected to him that Ward, if he were 
alive at the time, should do the work. He said to Ward, 
*' Be sure and give me a horse." When the general died, 

33 



and the Army of the Cumberland took up the task of erecting 
an equestrian statue to their former commander, they con- 
tracted with Ward to design the same. In due course of 
time, owing to the fact that the Army of the Cumberland 
was unable to collect the amount required for such a work, 
Congress, by acts approved March 2, 1889, and March 3, 
1891, appropriated the sum of fifty thousand dollars for the 
erection in the city of Washington of a statue of the late 
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, under the direction of the Secre- 
tary of War, the chairnjan of the joint committee on the 
library and the chairman of the Sheridan statue committee 
of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. That action 
threw the selection of the artist into the maelstrom of the 
social and political activities which surround such things in 
Washington, with the result that the model of the proposed 
statue of the general which was submitted by Mr. Ward was 
not accepted, and another which Mrs. Sheridan preferred was 
erected. The nonselection of the Ward statue created a great 
furore of disapprobation among the leading sculptors of 
America, all of whom considered it among the best and finest 
models of an equestrian statue which had ever been submitted, 
but influence and sentiment were potent and the result was 
that the model was left upon Mr. Ward's hands. 

It represented Sheridan in the full-dress uniform of the 
general of the army passing in review, hat in hand at salute, 
the horse full of action, but walking slowly and in a dignified 
manner past the reviewing stand. Mr. Ward understood the 
horse and its anatomy as well as any sculptor in America, 
and at the time he was selected by the Army of the Cumber- 
land to prepare the model he bought one of the finest and most 
carefully selected and trained riding horses which could be 

34 



found in America. He had a special studio in which the horse 
had full range and could be studied in action under all con- 
ditions, and he spent three years in the modeling of the horse^ 
so that when the model was finished it met with the approba. 
tion not only of those who study the horse from the artist's 
standpoint but also of soldiers and others who know 
nothing about art, but who know much about a horse and 
how he should look in action. 

Your committee, with Mr. Edward B. Can tine, commander 
of Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, Sons of Veterans, 
and Mr. Franklin M. Danaher of the Citizens' Committee, 
then went to New York and viewed the Ward model in Mr. 
French's studio. We were more than impressed, but acting 
with caution and not relying on our own judgment in such 
an important matter, we called to our aid, in an advisory 
capacity, Mr. Will H. Low, the Albany artist, who volunteered 
his services, with the result that the art of the statue, the 
propriety of its use and the great opportunity offered our 
State and city in the premises are duly set forth in the follow- 
ing appreciation, signed by some of America's great authori- 
ties in art, who are interested only as lovers of their profession 
in the advancement of municipal art, and whose approval 
could not be obtained for anything not worthy. What they 
say of and concerning the statue is as follows : 

New York, March 12, 1914 
J. Harris Loucks, Esq., Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, 
Sons of Veterans, Albany, N. Y.: 

Dear Sir.— In view of the project of erecting in Albany 
the equestrian statue of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan by J. Q. A. 
Ward, we, the undersigned, desire as artists to express our 
high appreciation of this statue as a work of art. Mr. Ward 

35 



occupied during a long life a most eminent position as a sculp- 
tor, while the professional honors accorded him comprised the 
presidency of the National Academy of Design and later that 
of the National Sculpture Society. His statues of Wash- 
ington, Greeley, Shakespeare, the Indian Hunter, The Puritan, 
and the Seventh Regiment Memorial in New York, his Garfield 
and General Thomas in Washington, and the equestrian 
statue of General Hancock in Philadelphia, comprise but a 
part of his varied work. 

The equestrian statue of Sheridan is the latest work of his 
full maturity, and in truth of portraiture and the spirit of its 
conception would make a notable monument for the birth 

city of the great general. 

Herbert Adams 

A. A. Weinman 

Kenyon Cox 

Edwin H. Blashfield 

Will H. Low 

Arnold W. Brunner 

H. a. MacNeil 

Walter L. Palmer 

The signers of the above document are Herbert Adams, a 
noted sculptor and president of the National Sculpture Soci- 
ety; A. A. Weinman and Herman Atkins MacNeil, leadmg 
sculptors, the latter being the designer of our Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Memorial in Washington Park; Kenyon Cox, Edwin 
H. Blashfield, Will H. Low and Walter L. Palmer, four great 
painters and recognized writers on and authorities in art, and 
Arnold Brunner, architect and our city planner, for many 
years on the Municipal Art Commission of the city of New 
York, whose opinion in such matters is most valuable. 

The art of Mr. Ward's statue is beyond criticism. 

36 



Your committee then made inquiry into the cost of the 
enlargement of the plaster model of the Ward statue into 
heroic size, its casting into bronze, the cost of a suitable ped- 
estal and accessories and the final finishing touches, and its 
erection in the Capitol park, under proper supervision, and 
it found that such actual cost, at the lowest estimate, including 
an honorarium to the widow of the deceased for the use and 
ownership of the model and the right to erect the statue, was 
the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. Mr. Daniel C. 
French, the premier of his profession in America, a most busy 
man, whose services as a sculptor are always in demand and 
can hardly be obtained, offered to give, without fee or reward, 
his personal supervision and direction to the completion and 
erection of the statue, at that sum, out of his regard for the 
deceased sculptor and in aid of American municipal art. 

Mr. French's offer was as follows : 

125 West nth Street, 
New York City, March 10, 1914 

J. Harris Loucks, Esq., Chairman Sheridan Monument Com- 
mittee, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan Camp, Sons of Veterans, 
Albany, N. Y.: 
Dear Sir.— I hereby propose to erect in the city of Albany, 
N. Y., according to plans and specifications hereafter to be 
made, upon a site to be selected by the proper authorities, 
the John Quincy Adams Ward bronze equestrian statue of 
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, the model of which is now in my 
possession, for the sum of twenty-five thousand ($25,000) 
dollars; the statue to be of heroic size, not less than 13 feet 
6 inches in height, complete in all respects, and to include a 
proper pedestal, to be agreed upon. 

37 



I also agree to give my personal attention and supervision 
to the work. 

The price above named to include the right to use the model 
and all claim for compensation whatsoever of the widow and 
estate of said J. Q. A. Ward, deceased, in the premises. 

The statue to be completed and in position within two years 
after the contract therefor has been signed. 

Yours very truly, 

Daniel C. French. 

The offer of Mr. French is most generous, one which he 
would give for no other purpose or person, and which we 
highly appreciate. 

The cost of probably a better pedestal, and the incidental 
expenses for the building of the approaches and the expenses 
of the dedication, will amount to about five thousand dollars. 
We have, therefore, a rare opportunity of erecting in the city 
of his birth a bronze equestrian statue of General Sheridan 
of heroic size for thirty thousand dollars, modeled by a great 
sculptor who knew the general, and which would have cost 
the government at Washington fifty- four thousand dollars 
(including the approaches), in addition to having the super- 
visory services of Daniel C. French gratis, so that the 
work will be done properly and in accord with the highest 
requirements of art. 

In the meanwhile, by force of Governor Glynn's interest 
in the matter, the State has appropriated toward the erec- 
tion of a suitable monument to the memory of Gen. Philip 
H. Sheridan, in the city of Albany, the sum of $20,000, pro- 
vided the citizens of Albany, by private subscription, raise 
an additional sum of $10,000 for the same. 

38 



We desirQ to express our high appreciation of Governor 
Glynn's action in the premises. 

Annexed to our report are photographs of the model of 
the Ward statue, from which we can know what we will get 
if Mr. French's offer is accepted. 

As part of our report we offer the following resolutions: 

Resolved, That we recommend to the commissioners for 
the erection of a monument to Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, in 
Capitol park, in the city of Albany, the purchase and erection 
of the Ward equestrian statue of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, 
under the direction and supervision of Mr. Daniel C. French, 
as per his proposal. 

Resolved, That the joint committee be and it is hereby 
requested to raise, by private subscription, the sum of ten 
thousand dollars, in aid of the erection of a suitable monu- 
ment to the memory of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, in Capitol 
park, in the city of Albany, pursuant to the provisions of 
chapter 100, Laws of 1914. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 
J. Harris Loucks 
RoLLiN B. Sanford 
Edgar A. Vander Veer, M. D. 
Ben. V. Smith 
John Farnsworth 

Committee 
Albany, N. Y., April 4, 1914. 

The above report and both resolutions were unanimously 
adopted by the joint committees. 

The report of the subcommittee was followed by an appeal 
to the citizens of Albany by Mayor Joseph W. Stevens, 
chairman of the citizens' committee. The mayor's appeal was: 

39 



APPEAL BY THE MAYOR 

To the Citizens of Albany: 

An opportunity has been offered to us by the State of New 
York to do honor to a hero of the Civil War and to one of 
the great soldiers of the age, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, by the 
erection of a monument to his memory, in our city, the place 
of his birth. 

The opportunity is ours, for the monument is dependent 
upon the citizens of Albany contributing the sum of ten 
thousand dollars to the fund for its erection as provided in 
the law authorizing it. 

It is needless for me to eulogize General Sheridan to the 
citizens of Albany, or to narrate his achievements in the war 
for the preservation of the Union. They are a part of our 
national history and enshrined in the hearts of all our loyal 
countrymen. In honoring the memory of the general we are 
honoring ourselves and our city. 

We can also consider its material benefits, for heroic eques- 
trian statues are few and if of good art they add distinction 
to the city in which they are erected. 

What great results can be accomplished for so small a con- 
tribution is set forth in the interesting report of the sub- 
committee having the matter in charge, which I commend 
to your careful consideration. 

We should be interested in the project from patriotic 
motives, and I urge upon our citizens to contribute freely 
according to their means to this fund. 

Joseph W. Stevens, 

Mayor and Chairman. 

Dated, Albany, N. Y., April 14, 1914. 

40 




JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD, sculptor of the Sher- 
idan statue which was unveiled in Capitol Park, Albany, 
October 7, 1916, was born in Urbana, Ohio, June 29, 1830. 
His ancestors had lived in Virginia for five generations, being 
descended from John Ward, of Norfolk, England, who landed 
at Jamestown in 1621. Among his progenitors who had 
served their country with distinction was James Ward, who, as 
ensign, had been with Washington in the frontier wars, and, 
as colonel, was killed in battle at Point Pleasant. His son. 
Col. William Ward, grandfather of J. Q. A. Ward, was one of 
the earliest settlers of Ohio, having laid out and named the 
town of Urbana on land obtained from the Indians. 

The subject of this sketch spent his early life on his father's 
farm. He began to show talent for modeling when a small 
boy, and in his nineteenth year he began the study of sculp- 
ture in the studio of Henry K. Brown, in Brooklyn. He 
remained with Mr. Brown till 1857, assisting him in many of 
his important works, particularly in the equestrian statue of 
Washington in Union Square, New York city, a replica of 
which was recently presented to West Point. Mr. Brown 
used to say: " Ward has more genius than Greenough, Craw- 
ford, Powers, and all the other American sculptors combined." 
Mr. Ward spent the winters of 1857-59 in Washington, 
D. C, where he modeled the busts of Alexander H. Stephens, 
Joshua R. Giddings, Hannibal Hamlin and other prominent 

41 



public men. It was about this time he made his first sketch 
of the Indian Hunter, the first statue erected in Central Park. 
To complete this work he made a special visit to the Indians 
in the Northwest. 

Mr. Ward opened his studio in New York in 1861 and was 
steadily engaged in the practice of his profession there until 
his death in 1910. He is justly regarded as one of the fore- 
most American sculptors, his work including some of the most 
important pieces of public statuary that have been erected in 
the United States. The following is a partial list of his statues 
somewhat in the order in which they were made: "Good 
Samaritan " in Public Gardens, Boston* " Indian Hunter," 
New York city; statue and reliefs on monument to Commo- 
dore M. C. Perry, Newport, R. I.; Seventh Regiment Citizen 
Soldier, Central Park, New York; Shakespeare, Central Park, 
New York; Gen. Israel Putnam, Hartford, Conn.; six emblem- 
atic decorative figures, State House, Hartford; Washington, 
Newburyport, Mass.; Lafayette, Burlington, Vt., Gen. Daniel 
Morgan, Spartanburg, S. C; Washington, Subtreasury, Wall 
street. New York; equestrian statue of Gen. George H. Thomas, 
Washington, D. C. ; Pilgrim, Central Park, New York; Gar- 
field monument, Washington, D. C; Henry Ward Beecher 
monument, Brooklyn, N. Y.; William E. Dodge, Herald 
Square, New York; Horace Greeley, City Hall Park, New 
York; Roscoe Conkling, Madison Square, New York; 
"Poetry," Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. ; eques- 
trian statue of Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, Pa.; equestrian statue of General Sheridan, 
Capitol Park, Albany, N. Y. His portrait busts, which include 
some of our most distinguished citizens, are too numerous to 
mention. But one should not omit the pediment on the 

42 



fagade of the Stock Exchange and the quadriga which crowned 
the Dewey Arch at Madison Square, and the magnificent 
sculptured column that marks the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown, Va. 

Among the many honors he attained were president of the 
National Academy of Design, first president of the National 
Sculpture Society, vice-president of the Fine Arts Federation, 
vice-president of the Century Association, trustee of the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the American Acad- 
emy in Rome, member of the Municipal Art Society, Archi- 
tectural League, National Institute of Architects, American 
Academy and American Institute of Arts and Letters. 

Among the younger sculptors who call themselves Mr. 
Ward's pupils none has risen to greater eminence than Mr. 
Daniel Chester French, in whose studio Mr. Ward's model 
of the Sheridan monument was enlarged. He has generously 
assisted Mr. Ward's widow in effecting the successful erection 
of both the Hancock and the Sheridan equestrian statues. 



43 




DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH 



DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH 

DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH, who enlarged the plas- 
ter cast of the Sheridan equestrian statue, after the 
model by John Quincy Adams Ward, is well known 
in the United States as one of the foremost sculptors of his 
time. He was born at Exeter, N. H., in 1850, and during his 
youth attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 
one year and studied under Dr. William Rimmer of Boston, 
and Thomas Bell, Florence, Italy. From 1876 to 1878 he 
had a studio in Washington, D. C, and in Boston and Con- 
cord, Mass., from 1878 to 1887. 

His best known works are the " Minute Men " at Con- 
cord, Mass.; statue of General Cass, Capitol, Washington; 
statue of Rufus Choate, court house, Boston; statue of John 
Harvard, Cambridge; the Milmore memorial which was 
awarded the third class medal at the Paris salon, 1892; colossal 
statue of the Republic at the Chicago Exposition; bronze 
doors of the Boston public library; statue of Abraham Lincoln, 
Lincoln, Neb. Mr. French has an ofhce at 12 West 8th street, 
New York city. 



45 




HENRY BACON 



HENRY BACON 

HENRY BACON, architect of the pedestal upon which 
the Sheridan equestrian monument rests, is among 
the most eminent in his profession in the United 
States. He was born in Watseka, 111., November 28, 1866, 
and was graduated from the University of Illinois in 1888, 
after which he traveled in Europe for two years. From 1885 
to 1888 he studied in the office of Chamberlin and Whidden, 
Boston. ^ He married Miss Laura Florence Calvert, of Dar- 
denelles, Turkey, in 1893, and from 1897 to 1903 was a member 
of the firm of Brite and Bacon, since which time he has prac- 
ticed alone. He is the designer of the Lincoln memorial at 
Washington, which cost $2,000,000. Mr. Bacon has an office 
at 101 Park avenue. New York city. 



47 



PARADE AND UNVEILING 

THE commission set Saturday, October 7th, as the day 
for the unveiling of the monument in Capitol Park, and 
issued more than fifteen hundred invitations to per- 
sons throughout the country to be present and participate in 
the ceremonies. Among the honor guests invited were Mrs. 
Philip H. Sheridan and Miss Mary Sheridan, of Washington, 
D. C, widow and daughter of the general; Capt. Thomas H. 
Sheridan, a son, and Brig. -Gen. Michael V. Sheridan, a brother 
of General Sheridan. Captain Sheridan was unable to attend 
because he was on duty with his regiment on the Mexican 
border. Gen. Michael V. Sheridan, whose home is at Carlisle, 
Pa., was obliged to send his regrets on account of his age. 
Mrs. Sheridan and her daughter accepted the invitation from 
their summer home at Nonquitt, Mass., where the general 
died in August, 1888. 

Other honor guests of the commission were: Gen. J. W. 
Keifer, of Ohio, who commanded a division under Sheridan in 
the Shenandoah valley; General Nelson A. Miles, Washing- 
ton, D. C. ; Benjamin B. Odell, former governor of the State, 
and sixty-nine veterans who served with Sheridan. 

The weather was ideal for Sheridan day, and the crowd, 
which began to assemble early in the day, continued to grow 
until it became a mighty throng in the afternoon. Mayor 
Joseph W. Stevens a week before had issued an appeal to 
the people of Albany to suspend their usual occupations for 
the afternoon in the following proclamation: 

49 



MAYOR'S PROCLAxMATION URGING 
HALF-HOLIDAY 

To the People of Albany: 

On Saturday afternoon next, October 7th, will take place 
the dedication of the monument now being erected in Capitol 
Park to the memor^^ of the soldier son of Albany, Gen. Philip 
H. Sheridan, whose valorous deeds in the war for the preserva- 
tion of the States won for him a conspicuous place in American 
history, thereby reflecting glory upon this, the city of his 
birth. 

In view of the importance of the event from an historic 
and civic viewpoint, it seems to me to be eminently fitting 
and proper that I comply with the request of the New York 
State Sheridan Monument Commission and urge upon the 
business men of Albany that, in so far as they can do so with- 
out detriment to their commercial interests, they observe 
Saturday afternoon next as a half-holiday, thereby giving 
themselves and their employees an opportunity to witness the 
parade and other ceremonies in connection with the dedication 
of the monument and participate otherwise in honoring 
Sheridan's memory. 

Furthermore, I urge upon our people generally that they 
display the American colors from their homes and places of 
business in recognition of the day's important event. Every 
citizen, it seems to me, should display at least one American 
flag, the emblem of the Union of States for which Sheridan 
fought. 

Let Saturday, October 7, 1916, be known throughout the 
length and breadth of the land as Sheridan day in Albany, the 

50 



day when the State of New York and the citizens of Albany- 
paid deserved tribute to one of the nation's greatest soldier 
characters ! 

Joseph W. Stevens, 

Done at the mayor's office in the] Mnvnr 

city hall, Albany, N. Y., this 30th [ -^ " 

day of September, 1916. J 



Unveiling day began with a solemn high mass at the 
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception which was attended 
by Mrs. Sheridan, her daughter, Governor Whitman, former 
Governor Glynn, state officials, members of the Sheridan 
commission and other distinguished citizens. Mass was 
celebrated in the presence of the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Cusack, 
bishop of Albany. The Rev. Mons. Joseph H. Delaney was 
celebrant and the Rev. Joseph Scully preached the sermon. 
The musical program was rendered by the cathedral choir. 

The parade of military and civic organizations, led by Col. 
Chauncey P. Williams, grand marshal, moved promptly at 
noon from Clinton Square, the route being: North Pearl 
street to South Pearl, to Hudson avenue, to Willet street, to 
State street to Eagle street. 

The column formation was as follows: 

Detachment of police, mounted. 
Mounted orderly section, Headquarters Company, 2d Infantry, as escort to the 

Sheridan Monument Commission, speakers and invited guests, in carriages 

as follows: 

Carriage No. 1. — Governor Charles S. Whitman, Doctor Cadman, Mayor 
Stevens, Mr. Cantine. 

Carriages Nos. 2, 3 and 4. — General Stotesbury, the Adjutant-General; mem- 
bers of the Governor's staff; the Governor's military secretary. 

Carriage No. 5.^ Ex-Governor Glynn, Ex-Governor Odell, Lieutenant- 
Governor Schoeneck, Mr. Winchester. 

51 



Carriage No. 6.^ Attorney-General Woodbury, General Miles, Colonel Tid- 
ball, Mr. Farnsworth. 

Carriage No. 7. — Bishop Cusack, Bishop Nelson, Colonel Beckwith, Speaker 
Sweet. 

Carriage No. 8. — General Patterson, General Keifer, General Parker, Colonel 
Stegman. 

Carriage No. 9. — Mrs. Charles S. Whitman, Miss Olive Whitman, Miss Sallie 
Davis and governess. 

Marshal and staff, mounted. 

FIRST DIVISION 

Provisional Battalion, U. S. Coast Artillery Corps, Major Robert F. McMillan, 

C. A. C, commanding, consisting of: 

12th Band, C. A. C, U. S. A. 

4th Company, C. A. C, U. S. A., Fort Totten, N. Y. 

5th Company, C. A. C, U. S. A., Fort Totten, N. Y. 

2d Company, C. A. C, U. S. A., Fort Hamilton, N. Y. 

3d Company, C. A. C, U. S. A., Fort Wadsworth, N. Y. 

Detachment of Sanitary Troops, U. S. A. 

Firing detail and two guns, Field Artillery, U. S. A. 

U. S. Navy recruiting detachment, Albany, Lieut. P. F. Hambsch, U. S. N., 

commanding. 
Two battalions 2d Infantry, N. G., N. Y., Col. James M. Andrews, commanding. 

2d Infantry band. 

Supply and machine gun companies. 

1st Battalion, 2d Infantry, N. G., N. Y., composed of: 

Company A, Troy. 

Company B, Cohoes. 

Company C, Troy. 

Company D, Troy. 

2d Battalion, 2d Infantry, N. G., N. Y., composed of: 

Company E, Schenectady. 

Company F, Schenectady. 

Company G, Gloversville. 

Company H, Amsterdam. 

Company M, Hoosick Falls. 

1st Battalion, 10th Infantry, N. G., N. Y., Capt. Albert S. Callan commanding, 

and consisting of: 

10th Infantry band. 

Company A, Albany. 

Company B, Albany. 

52 



Company C, Albany. 

Company D, Albany. 

Hospital Corps detachment. 

Christian Brothers' Academy Cadet Battalion, 

Lieut. Thomas Powers commanding. 

U. S. Naval Reserves. 

SECOND DIVISION 
Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, Sons of Veterans, 

J. Harris Loucks commanding. 

Jacob H. Ten Eyck Camp No. 154, Sons of Veterans, 

John Davey commanding. 

Spanish- American War Veterans, 

Archibald R. McFarland commanding. 

Admiral Farragut's Garrison No. 25, Army and Navy Union, 

Daniel F. Lawlor commanding. 

Admiral Coghlan Post No. 36, Veterans of Foreign Wars, 

Alfred V. Kennedy commanding. 

Old Guard, Company A, 10th Infantry (Albany Zouave Cadets), 

Col. Adrian W. Mather commanding. 

Old Guard, Company B, 10th Infantry (Washington Continentals), 

Harry Simmons commanding. 

Old Guard, 3d Signal Corps and Troop B, 

Major Harry S. Richmond commanding. 

Loyal Legion. 

Sons of the Revolution, 

Albert E. Hoyt commanding. 

Founders and Patriots, 

Addison J. Hinman commanding. 

Society of the Colonial Wars. 

THIRD DIVISION 

Sheridan's Shenandoah survivors. 

Lew Benedict Post No. 5, G. A. R., 

Henry Reineck commanding. 

George S. Dawson Post No. 63, G. A. R., 

Samuel H. Wentworth commanding. 

Lew O. Morris Post No. 121, G. A. R., 

Louis H. La Vallee commanding. 

W. A. Jackson Post No. 644, G. A. R., 

William F. Mullin commanding. 

State and city officers and members of the common council in automobiles. 

53 



Sheridan's Shenandoah survivors who led the third division 
were enthusiastically acclaimed all along the line by the 
thousands of people who had come from near and far. 

There was also generous applause for the two battalions of 
the Second Regiment of regulars who had just returned from 
the Mexican border as well as for the companies of Coast 
Artillery sent to Albany for the occasion from Forts Totten, 
Wadsworth and Hamilton. 

Governor Whitman reviewed the parade from a balcony 
at the southeast corner of the Capitol, leading from the 
executive chamber. Among those who accompanied the 
Governor to the reviewing stand were Mrs. Sheridan and her 
daughter. 

Meanwhile the 1,000 school children, who were to take part 
in the unveiling ceremony, had been assembled at the State 
Education building under supervision of George D. Elwell and 
Prof. Edward Futterer, musical directors. They marched 
to the front of the Capitol and were formed on the front steps 
close to the Sheridan statue in two sections, leaving an aisle 
down the center of the steps. The children were dressed in 
white and wore red, white and blue hats. As Governor 
Whitman and party appeared at the top of the steps and slowly 
descended to the speaker's stand at the foot of the staircase, 
the 1,000 children burst out in singing "America," accom- 
panied by the band stationed between them and the statue. 
In the Governor's party were: Edward Schoeneck, lieutenant 
governor; Egburt E. Woodbury, attorney general; Thaddeus 
C. Sweet, speaker of the Assembly; Edward B. Cantine, 
Charles M. Winchester, John Farnsworth, the state monument 
commission, and Mrs. Philip H. Sheridan, Miss Sheridan, Mrs. 
J. Q. A. Ward, Miss MacVey, the Rev. S. Parks Cadman, Col. 

54 



Zan L. Tidball, Ex- Governor Martin H. Glynn, Ex- Governor 
B. B. Odell, Jr., Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Col. Lewis R. Stegman, 
Col. Clinton Beckwith, Gen. J. W. Keifer, Daniel C. French, 
sculptor; Henry Bacon, architect; Senator Robert F. Wagner, 
James A. Parsons, Col. Solomon Russell, the guests. 

The singing was continued until all had been seated on the 
platform. 

PROGRAM 

Music — " America " — Official band and chorus. 
Invocation — Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Cusack. 
Introductory Address — Hon. Edward B. Cantine. 

Member of Commission. 

Address — Hon. Joseph W. Stevens. 

Mayor of the City of Albany and Presiding Ofificer. 

Music — " Reminiscences of the North and South " — Band. 
Unveiling of the Monument — Miss Olive Whitman and 

Miss Sally Davis. 
Presented by Mr. J. Harris Loucks. 

Commander of Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 200, Sons of Veterans. 

General's Salute — United States Field Artillery. 
Address — Hon. Charles S. Whitman. 

Governor of the State of New York and Chairman of the Commission. 

Music — " The Red, White and Blue "— Band and chorus. 
Oration — Rev. S. Parks Cadman. 

Chaplain 23d Infantry, N. G., N. Y. 

Music — " Battle Hymn of the Republic "— Band and chorus. 
Address — Hon. Martin H. Glynn. 

Former Governor and Honorary Chairman Citizens' Committee. 

Address — Col. Zan L. Tidball. 

Representing the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Benediction — Rt. Rev. Richard H. Nelson. 
Salute — United States Field Artillery. 
Music — " Star Spangled Banner." 

Official band directed by William T. Wendell. Chorus — Children of the 
public schools, directed by George D. Elwell. 

55 



Edward B. Cantine, as a member of the Sheridan commit- 
tee, introduced the Rt. Rev. Bishop Cusack, who offered the 
following invocation: 

O Almighty and Eternal God from whom flows every gift; 
every grace; who giveth courage to the soldier and love of 
Country to all of us, grant, we beseech Thee, that this 
monument which we erect today, may keep alive the memory 
of a great soldier, who deserved well the gratitude of this 
nation and of this city honored in his birth. May it serve 
to impress upon our children that next to God their duty is 
to their Country. May the principles for which Sheridan 
fought be ever maintained — a union of independent states in 
one unbreakable federation, a union of many races fused into 
one people which, though it worships God with many creeds, 
may claim the equal protection of one flag. 

Implant in us, O God, a Hving sense of this unity that we 
may keep our Country great, glorious and free. Amen. 

Edward B. Cantine delivered the introductory address in 
which he briefly set forth the beginning and genesis of the 
movement to erect the statue of Sheridan. When he referred 
to the presence of the sixty-nine Sheridan veterans he asked 
each to rise and answer the rollcall. 

Mr. Cantine spoke as follows: 



56 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY 
EDWARD B. CANTINE 

Albany extends greetings and an invitation to over one 
hundred million American people to join with her in doing 
honor to the memory of one of our nation's greatest heroes. 

A brief reference to the facts which make possible this 
large gathering today may be of interest. At the annual 
dinner given by the members of Philip H. Sheridan Camp 
No. 200, Sons of Veterans, at the Hotel Ten Eyck in this 
city February 11, 1914, it was my privilege as commander 
of that organization to present as the principal speaker, 
Hon. Martin H. Glynn, then Governor of this State. The 
subject assigned him was " Lincoln." In the course of his 
address he referred to the many brave deeds and heroism of 
Sheridan, in honor of whom the association was named. He 
suggested that Philip H. Sheridan camp institute a public 
movement to secure a statue of General Sheridan to be erected 
in this, the city of his birth. This suggestion was received 
with enthusiasm, and on motion of J. Harris Loucks a com- 
mittee was appointed to take steps to accomplish the desired 
object. Joint Sheridan camp and citizens' committees were 
organized, ten thousand dollars was generously contributed 
by our citizens, which amount was increased by a legislative 
act which added twenty thousand dollars more to the fund. 
The law also provided for a commission of seven who were 
empowered to carry out its provisions. That commission 
today presents the results of the combined efforts of all who 
have aided to build this heroic statue of Gen. Philip H. 

57 



Sheridan. To the youth of today and future generations it 
will stand as an inspiration of loyalty to and service for 
country. The school boy trudging up the hill will find the 
fever of patriotism throbbing in his veins at the sight of 
this statue of the little Albany boy who made his name 
known and honored in every part of the land by his 
valorous deeds. May the flag which veils it forever stand 
for protection, and may we learn by Sheridan's life the lesson 
of duty, patriotism and loyalty. 

There are present here today a number of the Boys in 
Blue who followed Sheridan's colors and helped fight the 
battles which made his name resound throughout the world; 
who knew his dash, his valor and his vim; who felt the thrill 
of his conquering cry of "on and ever onward " to victory 
and to fame; who heard the shouts of triumph amid the 
moanings of the wounded, the cries of the dying and the burst 
of cannon's shell; who rode with him by night and fought with 
him by day; who loved him as a man and revered him as a 
leader; who in the pursuit of Lee saw the sun rise in the east, 
the sun sink in the west and the stars in southern skies grow 
dim until the task was finished and the cause was won — a 
few of the men who helped make Sheridan famous and for 
whom Sheridan won eternal fame. To them these ceremonies 
will have an especial significance and an added interest, and 
it seems appropriate that the names of these comrades who 
are here should now be mentioned and I ask them to rise as 
their names are called. 

At this point in his address, Mr. Cantine called the name 
of Col. William H. Terrell, 53 Ten Broeck street, Albany, and 
Colonel Terrell, rising, answered " Here." The following names 
of veterans, who had also served under Sheridan, were called 
and each of the old soldiers rose and answered the roll call : 

58 



VETERANS WHO FOUGHT UNDER SHERIDAN 



Col. William H. Terrell. 
Charles E. Houghtaling. 
Michael Buchanan. 
Brayton F. Kinne. 
Silas H. Hooghkerk. 
George W. Hunt. 
William Martin. 
B. Franklin Raze. 
Dr. Herman L. Bendell. 
John McCormick. 
Francis Van Hoesen. 
Charles D. Thurber. 
Col. Solomon Russell. 
John Tallmadge. 
Charles C. Clements. 
Newton Ketchum. 
David J. Crounse. 
Charles Secor. 
A. B. Heusted. 
James McGuiness. 
William E. Glenhill. 
Edward Casey. 
William H. Lonergan. 
Alphonse Dubos. 
Corp. J. Edward Rapp. 
J. H. Bruce. 
Emerson F. Prouty. 
Kennedy DriscoU. 
Conrad Pauley. 
John E. Jones. 
P. H. Garrity. 
Jacob M. Erwin. 
Lewis Tremmell. 
John Ryall. 
Henry Planz. 



Edmund Martin. 
George Tompkins. 
William Scheffler. 
W. H. Cahill. 
Patrick Lyons. 
George A. Carlton. 
E C. Van Valkenburgh. 
C. M. Woolsey. 
C. A. Brown. 
William H. Wellington. 
Peter J. Ogsbury. 
A. J. Osborn. 
H. D. Pierce. 
E. G. Garner. 
Daniel Walters. 
Lewis H. La Vallee. 
M. D. Hartford. 
David H. Dyer. 
Clark N. Witbeck. 
Capt. Thomas A. Fearey. 
Gen. John F. Kent. 
E. G. Sherley. 
Albert H. Earl. 
William Stafford. 
John W. Mahoney. 
William H. Flint. 
William H. Wallace. 
J. D. Kingsbury. 
John White 
Robert Edwards. 
Alonza Lohnes. 
Albert Eddy. 
George C. Payne. 
James A. Brownell. 

59 



And lastly, the man who guides the destinies of our city. 
He also served in the Civil War in Sheridan's division; the 
commission has selected him as your presiding officer on this 
historic occasion, and to me has come the pleasure and honor 
of presenting to you Hon. Joseph W. Stevens, mayor of 
Albany. 



60 



ADDRESS BY MAYOR STEVENS 

Mayor Stevens in assuming the chairmanship spoke as 
follows : 

Over half a century has passed since the close of the Civil 
War and I feel a deep sense of gratitude that I am permitted 
to be here today and take part in the ceremonies of the unveil- 
ing of a monument to my old commander, Gen. Philip H. 
Sheridan. 

I want to express the appreciation of the city of Albany, 
the heartfelt appreciation of the survivors of Sheridan's com- 
mand who are assembled here today, the appreciation of 
the survivors of Sheridan's command scattered throughout 
the state of New York. 

I want to express this appreciation, through Governor 
Whitman, to the State of New York and to the commander 
and members of Philip H. Sheridan Camp, Sons of Veterans, 
and to the citizens of Albany who contributed so gener- 
ously to the fund that made this event possible, and I 
am not unmindful of the valuable services rendered by 
the eminent citizen of Albany, the man who inspired the 
sentiment that brings us here today, the Hon. Martin 
H. Glynn. 

I do not possess the eloquence to do so, nor is it my function 
to speak of the great military genius, the great services ren- 
dered to the Nation by General Sheridan. This will be dwelt 
upon by the eminent speakers whom I shall have the honor 
to introduce. 

61 



My only desire is to express the appreciation of all con- 
cerned for this beautiful memorial — dedicated to the memory 
of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, in the city of his birth. 



The band struck up the patriotic medley " Reminiscences 
of the North and the South." Signaled by Boy Scouts the 
artillery companies boomed forth the general's salute. This 
was the signal for Miss Olive Whitman, daughter of the 
governor, and Miss Sallie Davis, grand-daughter of Mayor 
Stevens, to pull the strings and unveil the statue. As the 
flags which had covered the huge bronze figure fell to the base 
a mighty cheer went up from the great throng which filled 
every spot of Capitol Park from Washington avenue to State 
street, while the cannon boomed and the band played. 



62 



MR. LOUCKS PRESENTS THE STATUE 

Representing the Sheridan camp, Sons of Veterans, J. 
Harris Loucks then formally presented the statue to the State 
and to the city. He said: 

From the earliest pages of history, we read of princes and 
generals returning from their victorious fields of conquest, amid 
the plaudits of the multitude, and the smiles of the lovely. 

Great towering shafts and triumphant arches were erected 
to celebrate their glorious conquests. 

Today we raise no monument to celebrate the conquest of 
any nation. We raise no huge figure of Victory over any people. 

We dedicate rather, this magnificent statue as a token of 
our love, affection and pride, in that great American general, 
that peerless cavalry leader, that splendid citizen and lovable 
man, Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan. 

Albany gave Sheridan to the nation. It is the privilege 
of Albany today to honor ourselves, by honoring this dis- 
tinguished general. The line of great men may or may not 
stretch out to the end of time, but the memory of this great 
general, this hero of so many battlefields, will never fail to 
impress upon the generations yet to come, as an example 
which all may well imitate but which none can excel. 

It is my honored privilege to present to the people of the 
State of New York and to the people of the city of Albany, 
through you. Governor Whitman, and you, Mayor Stevens 

" this statue placed on high, 

Under the dome of the Union sky" 

this splendid monument, in granite and bronze, to the memory 
of the hero of the Shenandoah. 

63 



ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR WHITMAN 

Governor Charles S. Whitman, responding for the State, said: 

PhiUp Henry Sheridan was a figure of peculiar appeal to 
the American imagination. His dash and his daring, coupled 
with military genius of the highest order, gave him high place 
among the brilliant chieftains of his day, and his splendid 
democracy made him loved by the people of the United States 
no less than by his men. 

It is well that the place of his birth should erect this statue 
to his memory, but Albany may hardly lay special claim to 
him merely by virtue of the fact that he first saw light of day 
here in the capital of the Empire State. 

The nation called him, a country claimed him, and the 
whole people hold him as their own. 

When disaster threatened the Union, of all the thousands 
that rallied, there was none who came with a finer enthusiasm 
than did Sheridan. 

As one reads his life, the fact most driven home is 
the almost religious fervor that marked his devotion to 
America. 

It was not merely a land to him, a stretch of country with 
certain definite boundaries — it was a faith. 

Before his eyes was the vision that led the Pilgrims here. 
In his soul, I believe, was the dream that inspired Wash- 
ington — the vision and the dream of a government of 
all the people in which there should be no injustice but every 
freedom. 

America is not a military nation. Aggressions and con- 

64 




w 
w 

< 
u 

> 

u 

w 

w 



H 

Pi 
< 
a, 

< 
y 

ti-, 
o 



quests have never been our aims, nor have we reared our 
youth in devotion to martial ideals. 

Yet it is a fact that America has never failed in time of 
war to produce military geniuses that have won the admira- 
tion of the world, receiving recognition in history along with 
the gigantic figures of all time. 

Even as military Europe acclaimed the genius of Washing- 
ton, so was it ungrudging in its admission of the genius of 
Sheridan, and even as a passion for liberty drove both men to 
the heights of achievement so do I make bold to believe that 
as long as liberty remains a passion in the heart of America, 
other Washingtons and other Sheridans will rise in every hour 
of the country's need. 

The greatness of a nation may not be marked by its wealth 
or by its population. The past is piled high with ruins of 
civilizations which put their faith in gold and in numbers. 
The driving force of a people is a spiritual force, and when a 
country begins to put its pocket above its soul, it turns its 
face away from progress and from permanence. 

We honor ourselves today as we do honor to the memory of 
a great soldier and a great American. 

This heroic statue stands as an expression of our love for a 
patriot, a reaffirmation of our faith in liberty as the governing 
principle in American life. It stands as a sign that we have 
not forgotton the heroic past or the lessons of freedom that 
great men have written in blood for our guidance. 

Sad indeed will be the day when Americans cease to 
remember America's struggles, America's temptations and 
America's heroes, for in them is warning, in them is stead- 
fastness and in them is constant inspiration. 

There were many in the thirteen colonies who had small 
sympathy with the aspiration that burst forth finally in the 
Declaration of Independence. There were those who put 

65 



property rights above human rights, and out of their regard 
for the profits that came to them, they were wilUng to rest in 
subjection and to bow in servile submission to every tyranny. 

In later time, there were many even in the North who held 
the prosperity of peace in higher regard than the honor of a 
just struggle against the shame of human slavery. In order 
that no danger might come to them and their incomes, there 
were those who were willing that America should continue 
to deny its faith and to defy its sacred principles. 

Again, as in the days of Washington, as in the days of 
Sheridan, we are faced by conditions that make demand upon 
all that is fine and true and unselfish in our national life. 

As in 1776 and in 1861, we are called upon for decisions 
that will determine our future as a nation, our course as a 
people. We can not ignore these conditions nor may we evade 
the decision. 

Before the world we took our stand in a great declaration 
that lifted us above the world in point of high idealism and 
pure aspiration. By virtue of that declaration, we are the 
champion of humanity, the foe to cruelty, injustice and 
oppression. 

The Civil War, terrible in its grapple between brothers, 
proclaimed the integrity of our intentions. 

Against Spain we struck a blow in defense of free institu- 
tions, and a liberated, enlightened Cuba stood forth as a 
proof that America had not repudiated the ancient faith. 

On occasions like this, recalling the memories which are here 
revived, may we not measure the present by the standards 
of the past, searching our hearts to see if America means as 
much to us as it meant to the men whom the hero of the 
Shenandoah led to battle and to death. 

Patriotism is a word of vast significance. It does not 
confine itself to the bloody test of battle. Citizens may show 

66 



it as well as soldiers. City and State, as well as Federal 
Government, make demand upon it. 

Bad government may betray and shame the nation as surely 
as any treason of war. Injustice, oppression, corruption, 
false and evil leadership are enemies as menacing as the attack 
of any foreign foe. 

It is well, of course, to look to the future, and the past must 
never become a dead weight upon progress, but we must not 
lose the inspiration that is to be found in the past nor forget 
the great lessons of sacrifice and courage and patriotism that 
are our heritage from vanished yesterdays. 

We honor the hero dead, and we pay our tribute of loving 
respect to his old soldiers who are here today to look upon the 
form in bronze of their great commander. 

Fast and faster they are going from us — these veterans 
in the uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. Few and 
fewer remain on earth to tell to the children and the children's 
children of the tremendous events with which their names 
will be forever associated. Every succeeding Memorial Day 
witnesses ever thinning lines and 'ere long the flowers that 
mark a nation's love and a people's reverence will fall on all. 

We can not too resolutely address ourselves to the task of 
erecting monuments and memorials, patriotic altars, that may 
serve to keep holy the glories of the ideals to which their lives 
were dedicated. 

Let us forever remember the things for which Sheridan and 
Sheridan's men fought and the spirit which characterized their 
every act. No greed of gain, no promise of personal advantage, 
no dream of conquest, urged them forward. Sheridan and the 
soldiers of Sheridan ventured love and life and youth and all 
that man holds dear for an ideal that shines more lofty and 
more pure than any cause that ever drove men to battle and 
to death before. 

67 



Whatever the future may contain, it is ours to hold fast 
to the faith of the fathers, to hve true to the memory of those 
who offered up their lives for freedom, for justice and for 
humanity. 

At the conclusion of Governor Whitman's address, the chorus 
of children, accompanied by the band, sang the " Red, White 
and Blue." 

The Rev. S. Parks Cadman, chaplain of the Twenty-third 
infantry, N. G. N. Y., who had just returned from the Mexican 
border, was the next speaker. 



68 



ADDRESS BY S. PARKS CADMAN, D.D. 

Nothing is lighter or less tolerable than mere praise. Hence 
when we deal with those who have completed their part upon 
the stage of life we should avoid the beaten paths of undis- 
criminating eulogy and useless panegyric. The dispassionate 
critic is the true friend of noble memories, the ally of reality, 
the companion of the historic conscience. As men and women 
advance in morality and intelligence, they resent the intrusion 
into occasions of this sort of that species of oratory which is 
mere heart-foam, disdainful of facts, credulous of exaggerated 
reference and comparison, given to intense and highly colored 
recitals which have neither pith nor meaning. The hero of 
the hour was a simple, direct, highly gifted soldier; accustomed 
to plain, unadorned speech; taught by repeated and phenomenal 
experiences to respect what has been justly called the majesty 
of facts. He would, I am sure, deprecate any attempt to 
belaud him without reason, or to indulge those partisan 
proclivities which are fed by sentimentalism rather than by 
that veracity which, as the Greek adage had it, was the 
fellow-citizen of the gods. The knowledge of the main lines 
of his career, of the sources from which it derived, of the 
motives at the root of his singularly steadfast patriotism, of 
the shaping power of eminent events, acting and reacting upon 
his vigorous personality, are prime requisites for the successful 
interpretation of that favored son of war's fearful engagements, 
Philip Henry Sheridan. 

Few of his companions in arms have escaped "the contagion 
of the world's slow stain." They were in closest fellowship 

69 



with the hosts they directed, and the fierce after fight has 
beaten upon them and their deeds. Yet stiU fewer among 
them sacrificed principle to power or ambition, while ever and 
anon appeared among them those who redeemed the credit 
of their profession, exalting it, and showing what could be 
effected by un trammeled character and service. Among these, 
General Sheridan has found an honorable place. He takes 
rank, not alone as a military chieftain, but as a most useful 
agent for the sovereignty of the people. His arduous 
endeavors materially aided the ever-deepening conviction 
that democracy is the best basis for political morality, and 
the true source of just and beneficial government. This con- 
viction gave rise to the American Republic, regenerated 
France, transformed the rule of Britain both in the homeland 
and in her colonies and still strives for an adequate formula- 
tion among other peoples of mankind. It would seem to me, 
and I hope, to you, that Sheridan's attitude toward our 
national political genius was not the least of his meritorious 
achievements. Not that he fought, and fought strenuously, 
but the causes which induced him to fight and held him 
as their bondsman in days of storm and stress, should ever be 
emphasized in any mention of his name. 

Allusion has been made here to his birth in this city, which 
took place on March 6, 1831. Albany has a right to be proud 
of Sheridan's advent thus made in the capital of our State. 
But I would remind you that Ohio also claims him for her 
own, and has named him as one of the sons of her training 
whom she gave to the preservation of the Union. This, of 
course, is due to his having spent his earlier years in Perry 
county, Ohio, from a rural district of which county he pro- 
ceeded to West Point in 1848 and was graduated there in 1853. 
Yet neither of these localities should be allowed to obscure 
his real origin. His parents, John and Mary Sheridan, were 

70 



natives of County Cavan, Ireland, God-fearing folk, who had 
emigrated from that beautiful province the year previous to 
the birth of their third and most distinguished child. They 
were Celts in every sense of the term, devout Roman Catholics, 
thrifty and enterprising souls, who scrupulously reared their 
family in the ancestral faith and inculcated in them the virtues 
of reverence, obedience and piety. The ancient Church of 
Ireland, which had spread the Christian religion throughout 
Brittany, Spain and far-off wintry, inhospitable Iceland; the 
church whose incurably nomadic monks entered the sister 
island of Britain and there became the founders of the Rule 
of Columba, was the spiritual mother of this man whom we 
celebrate. Her monasteries were once the centers of western 
civilization and learning. They alone retained some knowledge 
of Greek when that language was lost to the remainder of 
Europe. In the sixth century she nourished and sent forth 
the courageous and sacrificing missionaries who were found at 
Finnian, Ciaran, Comgell, and Brenlan. In the early ninth 
century whoever knew the classics on the adjoining continent 
was either an Irish monk or taught by an Irish monk. Day 
was turned into night when this living church and the Irish 
race were ravaged by Norsemen and Danes; pirates and out- 
laws of the sea, who swept away in a hurricane of blood and fire 
the spiritual movement so scantily known by many historians. 
Nevertheless no ruthlessness could permanently repress the 
children of a consecrated land. In reviewing their past one 
is struck by the extent and variety of their activities beyond 
the seas, and filled with wonder that any nation, leave alone 
one harassed and oppressed, had the enormous mental and 
physical resources to undertake and accomplish so much for 
other nations. Both Empire and Republic are debtors to 
Ireland for soldiers, administrators, poets, patriots, for men 
of faith and vision, of action and realization. The country 

71 



that gave Sheridan to the United States in the hour of her 
gravest peril has given a goodly number of their bravest and 
best public servants to Britain, Canada, Australia, France, 
and Spain. The monument in Somerset, Ohio, and this one 
we dedicate today, should be succeeded by one erected in 
county Cavan, Ireland. 

As a rule, the greatest reputations and the greatest results 
have been obtained by the concentration of human powers 
upon a single object. This observation applies to Sheridan. 
His distinctive attribute was an exhaustless energy; his 
wisest one, the prudence which guarded that energy from 
waste and projected it toward a carefully ascertained object. 
Hence, he left his impress, and an ineffaceable one, as 
a soldier. This seed, as a military magnate, was in him- 
self. He was guided to the heights he attained in his chosen 
calling by the radiance of his own breast. Educationally, 
he was nothing notable, yet as a boy in a country store on 
a salary of $24 a year he studied history and mathematics, 
and soon began to chafe against the dull routine of his lot. 
The Mexican war aroused his instinct for the fray. What he 
thought about the righteousness of our conflict with Mexico 
I do not know, and perhaps he was too young to have matured 
opinions on the issue. One thing is apparent, that from the 
moment of its outbreak his determination was made, and he 
applied to the Hon. Thomas Richey, member of Congress 
from his district, for a cadetship at West Point. The letter 
was unaccompanied by the usual flood of testimonials from 
influential politicians. The writer was poor and friendless. 
He asked that the assignment might be given to him and 
subscribed his petition, "Phil Sheridan." Fortunately for 
the commonwealth Mr. Richey knew him and his father before 
him, and with admirable prescience, the Congressman gave 
Sheridan the appointment. He was graduated thirty-fourth 

72 



in a class of fifty-two. Cadet Henry W. Slocum was his 
roommate and afterwards his life-long intimate. Here again, 
while not deprecating for a moment the value of the discipline 
he received, and which, in some respects, he sorely needed. 
West Point does not explain his fortune. The academy 
polished the metal which it did not produce. For Sheridan 
was a fighting man by nature, and the stubborn valor, 
adaptability, skill, and at intervals, overwhelming onslaught 
of his attack were as congenital to him as ballad poetry to 
Robert Burns and oratory to John Bright or Daniel O'Connell. 
It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the triumphs of 
his work, which have or will receive ample treatment from 
Governor Whitman, Governor Glynn and other eloquent 
speakers. Assuredly his environment and associations after 
he left the academy were not permitted to quench his zeal, 
and when the Civil War began, the full force of his individu- 
ality, the inflexibility of his purpose, the thoroughgoing faith 
he had in Mr. Lincoln and the Union soon made themselves 
felt. It was evident to his superiors that here was no ordinary 
officer, but one whose nature, aristocracy of military mind, 
must predominate. As a young and intrepid leader of forlorn 
hopes, a rising cavalryman whose comrades passed his name 
from camp to camp and called him the bravest of the brave, 
he surged onward and upward to a dazzling and even 
romantic celebrity; a sturdy, indomitable, and at intervals, 
inspired warrior whose presence in the field of action was 
worth ten thousand men. Perhaps this aspect of his character 
has been unduly magnified. There was, at any rate, another 
and, as I venture to think, a larger side to Sheridan, hidden 
from the superficial, but palpable to those who understood the 
mighty game in which they were severally engaged, and 
keenly appreciated by them. This was the cool, calculating 
strategy that lay beneath his terrific drives and dictated their 

73 



course. The divine madness that sometimes possessed him 
never escaped the control of cool, calculating method. Sagacity 
pointed out the path to risky undertakings. Every detail 
was discussed, all possibilities considered, all contingencies 
provided for. It was no stroke of luck that made him one of 
the foremost lieutenants of Grant while he was still a young 
man. The ardor with which he fulfilled every duty laid upon 
him by his idolized commander was impatient of the slightest 
neglect in others or in himself. He exacted from his sub- 
ordinates that which he freely rendered, a steady and per- 
sistent drill in things great or small. This rigorous training, 
though odious to the effeminate delicacy of our enervated 
multitudes, produced the mounted paladins who eventually 
rode down the gallant chivalry of the South in the fertile 
valleys of Virginia. Thus he ripened for the last phases of 
the tremendous and tragic drama of the war. 

By these ways and means I have briefly indicated he was 
made meet for the momentous climax. In the crash of battle 
a sudden change came over him. His short, compacted form 
grew even more erect, the grasp upon his saber tightened, his 
eyes flashed with unwonted fires, his nostrils dilated, his 
sinews stiffened, his entire bearing was transformed. Yet the 
fortitude, the daring, the matchless boldness of which his 
chroniclers have told, were restrained at every point by con- 
summate equipoise and knowledge of the situation involved. 
It is not too much to say that he forged the cavalry weapon 
he wielded with such effect, he compelled it to receive his own 
stamp, he bathed it in sacrificial struggle, and made its onfall 
as sure and deadly as the thrust of the Household brigade at 
Waterloo, or the Light cavalry at Balaklava. 

As to whether he was capable of the higher strategies which 
Lee showed in the Wilderness, and Grant at Vicksburg, and 
Thomas at Nashville, I am not competent to determine. 

74 



Grant seems to have believed he was, and gave him a place 
by the side of Sherman. We think of them as a trinity of 
generals; and their troops, some of whom are here today, will 
not have it other than that Sheridan was in the foremost 
line of the world's commanders. In any case, we call a truce 
to this debate on the day when we honor him. Lee and 
Jackson, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, Meade and Thomas, 
are now with God, and their records as soldiers stand fast and 
are illustrious. As a man, Sheridan was a contrite, humble 
and devoted Christian, loyal to his Maker, his Redeemer and 
his Church; compassionate toward the afflicted and the outcast, 
uncompromising in his opposition against injustice and wrong, 
immovable in his resolution that he would not barter his 
soldierly character in the devious ways of politics. As a 
citizen he regarded his land and her institutions first and 
foremost. To lay violent hands upon these was, for him, the 
vilest anarchy and an unforgivable treason. As a soldier he 
was as untamable and formidable in war as he was modest in 
peace; full of enterprise and initiative, liable to appear where 
the enemy least expected him, and at a time and a place 
which he chose for their discomfiture and his own advantage. 
These veterans whose presence with us lends pathetic sig- 
nificance to our dedicatory acts loved and trusted and fol- 
lowed him to the last. Of his doings and of theirs the genera- 
tions have since heard and will continue to hear. That we 
shall revere his memory and exult in his fame is beyond ques- 
tion. Yet better, far better, were it for us not to mimic, but 
to be inspired by his greatness to a more adequate ideal of 
our duty as citizens and an unshrinking resolution to discharge 
it to the last item and at any hazard. 

The world today is torn with war, and Sheridan's brothers 
in blood are, as usual, enduring the apocalyptic horrors of a 
sanguinary epoch with their old-time courage and devotion. 

75 



Many dangers threaten us: the prejudices and provincialism 
of our citizenship not least among those dangers. But so 
long as we can bring forth, and honor, and be influenced 
by, such heroes as Philip Henry Sheridan, so long can we have 
confidence in the future of America. 

The band and chorus then rendered the " Battle Hymn 
of the Republic," after which Hon. Martin H. Glynn, former 
Governor of the State, was introduced by Mayor Stevens. 



76 



ADDRESS BY HON. MARTIN H. GLYNN 

This statue is a monument to merit and a proclamation 
of pride; a monument to the merit of one of the greatest 
miUtary chieftains in the history of the world, a proclamation 
of pride that New York gave Phil Sheridan to the nation 
and Albany gave him to the world. 

This statue is an illustration of American opportunity. 
In no other country under the sun would the road for advance- 
ment have been opened from the humble cottage on Fox 
street where Phil Sheridan was born, just a stone's throw from 
here, to this majestic pedestal of granite, this magnificent 
statue of bronze with its laurel of reward, its incentive for 
endeavor. Within this statue lies the lesson that under the 
Stars and Stripes for which Phil Sheridan fought with the 
fury of a demon and the patience of a saint, Worth makes the 
man and Genius carves the place he holds in the panorama 
of his time. 

This statue is a tribute to every man who fought to save 
a single star from falling out of this old flag of ours, and none 
would have it more so than Phil Sheridan himself, who called 
the privates in the ranks the heroes of the war and to them 
gave the credit for his honor and his fame. 

But, my friends, this statue singularly epitomizes and 
graphically symbolizes one of the most romantic, one of the 
most picturesque careers in the annals of war. 

Napoleon alone can match its splendor or rival its glory. 

Within the short space of six months Phil Sheridan fought 
his way from a captain to a colonel, from a colonel to a brig- 

77 



adier, from a brigadier to a major-general by a series of vic- 
tories that thrilled the North and startled the South. This 
record stands without a superior. It has about it the mystery 
of Alexander the Great, the splendor of Julius Caesar and the 
lustre of Napoleon. 

And to Phil Sheridan's credit be it said that no social influ- 
ence, no political manipulation, no magic clink of gold ever 
won him a star of promotion or an epaulet of distinction. 
With his sword he won his own way. Victory was his passport 
to promotion, merit his claim to distinction; and every pro- 
motion he received beai's the date of some famous battle that 
he won. And he won battles so fast, earned promotions so 
rapidly, that he was a general long before his commission as a 
colonel ever reached him. So just though, so merited, were 
these imprecedented promotions that no criticism ever marred 
them, no jealousy ever dimmed them. In all our history, he is 
probably the only man who ever commanded a regiment, a 
brigade and a division as a colonel and brigadier while 
actually commissioned as a captain of the line. 

For brilliancy of performance and rapidity of promotion 
the career of Phil Sheridan stands unrivalled and alone. 

In all his career he never lost a battle; he fought in seventy 
engagements and always fought where the bullets flew the 
thickest and death stalked without a mask; he seldom made 
an unsuccessful attack; and every time the enemy hurled 
itself on Sheridan's lines, Sheridan hurled the enemy back to 
disaster and defeat. 

Five brigadier-generals told Abraham Lincoln that " Phil 
Sheridan was worth his weight in gold;" General Sickles said 
" his mere presence doubled the fighting strength of any 
command for he could do as much with ten thousand soldiers 
as any other commander could do with twenty thousand; " 
Count Von Moltke declared " he taught Europe new lessons 

78 



in warfare;" General Scofield called him "the beau ideal of 
a soldier and commander;" General Butterfield said "as a 
leader Phil Sheridan never had a superior in any army at 
any time;" and in a talk with Prince Bismarck, General 
Grant ranked Sheridan with Napoleon and Frederick the 
Great and declared " that no better general than Phil Sher- 
idan ever lived." 

Time has made the opinion of these warriors the opinion 
of mankind. 

And so, fortified by the wisdom of the years, in this statue 
we pay a tribute to merit and proclaim our pride that New 
York gave Phil Sheridan to the nation and Albany gave 
him to .the world. 

And if we were to write his record on this statue, this is 
what we'd write; and then not write it half: 

In three score and more of engagements the sword of Sher- 
idan flashed like a meteor in the sky. 

At Booneville he whipped an army ten times larger than 
his own; at Perry ville he saved the day; at Stone River he 
repulsed the proudest army the Confederates ever sent into 
the West; at the great battle of Tennessee he helped Thomas 
win the title of "The Rock of Chickamauga ; " at Spottsyl- 
vania he taught Wade Hampton how to fight; at Cold Harbor 
Meade sent him word to " Hold the fort for I am coming," 
and Sheridan held the fort; at Yellow Tavern he overwhelmed 
the ablest cavalry leader of the south; at the battle of the 
Wilderness he was here, there and everywhere, a tongue of 
fire, an arm of might; at Winchester he freed Washington 
from fear of invasion and danger of the torch. In the raid 
around Richmond he dismayed the South and foretold the 
beginning of the end; in the raids through the Shenandoah 
Valley he made the Confederacy feel the pangs of need and 
taste the miseries of starvation. For three years we tried 

79 



and tried in vain to gain control of the Shenandoah Valley: 
Sheridan gained control of it in three months. For four years 
we tried and tried in vain to open the road to Richmond: 
Sheridan opened it in six weeks. 

Nor is this all. 

Three of his battles, at least, have a mystic charm that 
time cannot destroy. 

At Missionary Ridge, while in obedience to orders others 
remained at the foot of the hill, Sheridan, with a cry to his 
men to take all before them, swept up the hill on his own 
initiative; captured the Ridge; won "the battle above the 
clouds," now famed in song and story; and then, by the light 
of the moon, chased the army of Bragg down the mountain 
and far into the night. 

At Cedar Creek he won the most poetic, the most individu- 
alistic victory in American history. Sheridan's ride from 
Winchester, " twenty miles away," will live forever in rhyme 
and lore. Its appeal will never die, its story never grow old. 
For fifty years and more it has fired the public fancy and 
stirred the patriot pulse. As school boys it thrilled us; as men 
it inspires us. Turn to your histories, my friends, and read 
its magic story once again ! Turn to your histories, and with 
Sheridan ride five, ten, fifteen, twenty miles from Winchester 
down amid "the rumble and the grumble and the roar;" 
ride with him on a steed as black as night, whose hoofs beat 
like the thunder's roll, whose wild eyes flash with fire; ride 
with him among the runners, the stragglers and the trailers; 
ride down his struggling lines with him, amid the shot and shell 
of enemies, the shouts and cheers of friends; ride with him 
from the rising to the sinking of the sun, and see him, single- 
handed and alone, rally as no other man ever rallied a whipped, 
a cowed, a routed and retreating army into victorious bat- 
talions that swept everything before them — into dashing, 

80 



charging cohorts that won the most amazing battle of the war. 
And for this victory, of which poets sing and artists dream, 
congress gave Phil Sheridan a vote of thanks, Lincoln pro- 
moted him, and Grant honored him with a volley of a hundred 
guns in every army of the North. 

And- what he did at Cedar Creek, at Five Forks he repeated. 

At Five Forks he won the decisive battle of the war; the 
battle that made the watchword of this country — one heart, 
one hand, one land, one mind, one flag, and one nation now 
and forever; the battle that for all time made the Star Spangled 
Banner the flag of the North, the flag of the South and the 
emblem of the nation. 

Lee might outflank Grant one night, and Meade the next 
night ; but he could not shake off Sheridan with his thundering 
horsemen, who slept in the saddle by night and fought on 
foot by day. Not even Grant did more than Phil Sheridan 
to smash the Confederacy and conquer Lee. Grant needed 
Sheridan as much as Sheridan needed Grant. One was the 
complement of the other ; and alongside the immortal name of 
Grant the name of Phil Sheridan will go thundering down 
the ages. 

"Wherever he was needed, there Phil Sheridan was sure 
to be." Grant said this, and Grant knew. " The only orders 
Sheridan ever needed was the command to ' Go in.'" Grant 
said this, and Grant knew. And when Sheridan went in, he 
came out with a victory. Grant issued the orders and Sher- 
idan did the rest. And in doing it he never tired and he never 
quit. On almost every day for three successive months he 
fought an engagement and won a victory against the armies 
of the South. Think of that, my friends! Think of fighting 
for three months — day in and day out — with always a 
victory and never a defeat! Think of it, and point me out 
its equal if you can ! 

81 



I say, and history proves, that Phil Sheridan was a veritable 
thunderbolt of war, an incarnation of energy and action, a 
cyclone of disaster and dismay, a wrester of victory from 
conditions which almost spelled defeat. All this he was and 
more. He was a thinker, a planner, a reservoir of resource, 
a master of detail. For centuries the world had gone wrong; 
Sheridan set it right. For centuries the world had used 
cavalry simply as a weapon of offense; Sheridan taught it to 
use cavalry as a bulwark of defense. The lesson he taught 
still survives, and in the survival Sheridan lives, a teacher of 
tactics, a master of strategy. And, as a master, his care in 
preparation equalled his fearlessness in execution. His men 
were always fit; his powder always dry. Like Napoleon, he 
believed " Victory goes to the general who best knows his 
map; " and Sheridan always knew his map. 

True, he had the reckless dash of a mere dragoon; but 
equally true is it that he had the qualities, the instinct and 
the talents which shape the battle's issue and create the 
conquering host. 

No argument is needed to prove this; Sheridan proved it on 
a hundred battlefields. 

From the day Grant placed him at the head of the Army 
of the Shenandoah until the day Lee surrendered at Appo- 
mattox, Phil Sheridan mastered every military situation that 
confronted him, solved every military problem that faced 
him, with honor to his comrades and advantage to his flag. 
Throughout all his career, my friends, "Little Phil" was a 
fighting Irish game-cock, whose comb was never cut and whose 
wings were never clipped. 

These are the reasons why we love to dwell on this glorious 
career of Albany's most distinguished son and with the poet 
sing — 



82 



There's one we love to call our own, 

Renowned by sword and pen, 
His plume alone, where'er it shone, 

Was worth ten thousand men ; 
'Twas he snatched victory from defeat, 

Our hearts' commander still ; 
Whene'er we meet, his name we greet, 

Our matchless Little Phil. 

We love to call Phil Sheridan our own, for upon his unique, 
his magnetic career Albany has a claim peculiarly her own. 

West Point did not make this career; training did not 
produce it; experience did not beget it. It came from a 
mother's milk and a father's blood. This career is what it is 
because Phil Sheridan was what he was through the attributes 
of birth and the heritage of ancestors. 

Great soldiers are bom, not made; and Phil Sheridan was 
born a soldier. The energetic resolution of a soldier was in 
his brain; the spur of a soldier was in his blood. He did not 
get his tactics out of books or from the schools; he got them 
from the University of Nature. Instinct fathered them, 
intuition mothered them, genius developed them. He had 
the glow of heart that endowed him with an invincible impetu- 
osity, an unconquerable intensity. He had the white heat of 
brain that transformed occasions into opportunities, and 
opportunities into victories. His coiirage was contagious; his 
bravery multiplied the chances of success. His vim, his zest, 
his zeal made two men out of every man within his command ; 
his care, his caution and his watchfulness deprived the enemy 
of half its strength. 

God loves the brave; fortune favors the brave; and Phil 
Sheridan was bravery personified. His mind never sagged in 
doubt, his heart never shook in fear, his courage never wav- 
ered, his bravery never faltered, his valor never languished ^ 
this " lion-hearted " leader of a fratricidal war. 

83 



But this invincible impetuosity of Sheridan's, this uncon- 
querable intensity, was no ebullition of nervous energy, no 
effervescence of animal spirits, no frenzy of physical powers. 
It was an emphatic expression of patriotism born of a deter- 
mination that no impious hand should ever snatch a star from 
out the blue of our flag, no sinister touch besmirch its red or 
pollute its white ; it was an absolute consecration of body and 
soul, a devout dedication of heart and head and hand to the 
fortifying faith, the inspirational belief that baptized m the 
blood of patriots, sanctified by the spirit of the fathers and 
the loyalty of their sons, blessed by the benedictions of myriads 
who find protection beneath its sheltering folds, the flag of our 
Union, with its red stripes and white bars and blue field of 
stars, gives us something to hope for, something to work for, 
something to live for, something to fight for, and something 
to die for. 

But in all his greatness Phil Sheridan was human, so intensely 
human as to be extremely lovable. He loved sunlight and 
starlight, music and flowers, women and men. He loved his 
soldiers, and his soldiers loved him. A more beloved general 
never lived. He never needlessly sacrificed a human life; he 
never asked his men to go where he would not lead, and he 
always cared for his soldiers as if they were his sons. 

Happy he would be, and happy must everybody else with 
him be. 

From caution or from policy other generals might conceal 
their camp, smother their fires and still their bands; but in 
the army of Phil Sheridan the fires must burn at night and 
the bands play by day, the soldiers sing while on the march 
and flags forever flutter in the breeze. 

In love and admiration the soldiers of France called 
Napoleon the " Little Corporal." In admiration and love the 
sojdiers of the Union called Sheridan " Little Phil." 

84 



And " Little Phil " he always will remain. 

The world loves the name, his men loved the name, he 
loved the name; he gave it to his son and he died with it upon 
his lips. 

As "Little Phil," on his black horse, Rienzi, he rode into 
an eternity of fame. 

As " Little Phil," with the capitol of his native State behind 
him, the city of his birth before him, on this bronze horse 
whereon we place him today with a crown of approbation 
and a tumult of applause, he will ride down the centuries — 
a monument to merit, an illustration of American opportunity, 
a tribute to every man who fought to save a single star from 
falling out of this old flag of ours, a proclamation of pride 
that New York gave Phil Sheridan to the nation and Albany 
gave him to the world. 



85 



ADDRESS OF COL. ZAN L. TIDBALL 

Col. Zan L. Tidball, of Bath, N. Y., past department com- 
mander of New York Grand Army of the Republic, was the 
last speaker. He spoke as the representative of the G. A. R. 
and said: 

In this time of general enlightenment it is reasonable to 
suppose that before coming here everyone within hearing of 
my voice was familiar in some degree with the history, and 
more or less informed of the wonderful achievements, of the 
great man, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, whose memory we cele- 
brate today. If perchance anything of importance in that 
connection was lacking, it surely was told you by the eloquent 
gentlemen who have preceded me. 

In such circumstances, what is left for me to say more than 
to express to the monument commission my sincere appreci- 
ation of its courteous invitation to participate in the cere- 
monies of this never-to-be-forgotten occasion, and the very 
great honor bestowed upon me to appear before this vast 
assemblage as the representative of the remnant of that 
mighty, invincible host, the Grand Army of the Republic — 
the boys of '61 and '65 who helped to develop the genius of 
Sheridan and under his direction snatched victory from defeat ? 

Still it may not be amiss to review briefly some of the events 
of Sheridan's early life that clearly indicated the trend of his 
youthful mind, which time and opportunity developed and 
broadened in a masterful way. From childhood Sheridan 
possessed the spirit of leadership. He chafed under restraint 
and was inclined to be belligerent when opposed. You were 

86 



told of the little misunderstanding between him and School- 
master McNally, when Sheridan ran away from school to 
escape the birch. That event came about through Sheridan's 
lack of discipline ; of his disrespect of authority. The incident 
has been referred to rather facetiously and declared to be 
"Sheridan's first and only retreat." I do not quite agree 
with this conclusion. It may have been his first, but surely 
not his most serious defeat, for history records the fact that 
while a cadet at West Point, and when about half through 
with his studies, Sheridan committed a breach of discipline 
that well-nigh cost him his cadetship. Angered by what he 
considered a contemptuous remark of the drill sergeant, his 
superior in command, and unable to control his belligerent 
disposition, he assaulted the sergeant. For this grievous 
military offense he was suspended for a period of nine months, 
and but for the fact that his standing in class and his general 
deportment were exceptionally good, he would no doubt have 
been dishonorably dismissed from the army. The authorities, 
however, while in duty bound to enforce strict discipline, 
foresaw great possibilities in Sheridan and wisely decided to 
make of him an example rather than a sacrifice. 

The shock of the sentence, however, had the effect of awak- 
ening Sheridan's judgment and of arousing his pride, and 
caused him to reflect upon the importance of thorough dis- 
cipline; and from that time forward, while always ready to 
act, he was able to control his naturally quick and sensitive 
temper. Sheridan in his " Personal Memoirs " refers to this 
incident which he considered the most important of his early 
experiences, as it made him master of himself and capable of 
understanding the importance of discipline and to properly 
appreciate the need of respect for superior authority. 

Sheridan possessed several noticeable characteristics. He 
always aimed to be the best among those with whom he was 

87 



associated, and this desire prompted him to do the best he 
could in every position in which he was placed. This dis- 
position was manifest from the days of his boyhood when he 
was a clerk in the grocery in the little town of Somerset, 
Ohio, even before he ever dreamed of West Point. His good 
old employer saw and recognized it, and urged it as a recom- 
mendation to secure his appointment to the military academy, 
and later on, all the way up the line, it was recognized by his 
fellow officers and personally acknowledged by the President. 

Sheridan was but little past seventeen when he entered 
West Point. He was small of stature, standing only five feet 
five inches and weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds. 
It is doubtful whether he would have been admitted at a 
later day on account of his size. He was popular among his 
classmates who nicknamed him " Little Phil," an endearing 
title destined to endure so long as memory holds sway. But 
whatever may have been lacking in stature was more than 
offset by a superior quality of brain that placed Sheridan 
among the greatest men of his time. 

Sheridan was intensely loyal to his country and its flag. 
At the outbreak of the rebellion he was a second lieutenant 
in command of a small frontier post in Oregon. The news 
of the attack on Sumter reached him in July, 1861, and he 
immediately applied for a transfer to some command at the 
seat of war, but before his request could be granted he learned 
that the officer selected to relieve him was a secessionist and 
in sympathy with the cause of the South, so he refused to 
turn over the command until he could communicate with his 
commanding officer at San Francisco, to whom he made 
known his discovery. The result was that another and a 
loyal officer was sent to relieve Sheridan. Considerable delay 
ensued and Sheridan did not get away until September, when 
he was assigned to duty with the Department of Missouri. 



From that time until the close of the war Sheridan was every- 
where at the call of duty, always at the front, always in the 
thick of the fight and always victorious. 

In whatever situation Sheridan was placed his sole object 
seems to have been to win without thought of the result to 
himself personally, in the way of promotion or advancement. 
It is said that he never solicited promotion nor asked his friends 
to aid him in that respect. He simply did his work the best 
he knew how and left those in superior authority to pass 
judgment upon it, and in recognition of his invaluable service 
all promotions, from the grade of second lieutenant to the rank 
of general of the army, came to him as rewards of merit. No 
one had a higher opinion of Sheridan's prowess and glorious 
achievements than General Grant, whose first act after becoming 
President, in 1869, was to appoint him lieutenant-general in the 
regular army. Subsequently, upon the retirement of General 
Sherman, Congress restored the rank of general and Grant con- 
ferred it upon Sheridan when he assumed supreme command. 
Sheridan died at the age of fifty-seven, too soon, too soon, 
we are wont to say. Yet we rejoice that he was spared to 
see his country reunited and on the high road to prosperity, 
and asserting itself among the foremost nations of the earth. 
Few men in all history accomplished so much as Sheridan 
achieved in the cause of freedom, national unity and sound 
government, and his fame will live forever. 

Much of Sheridan's success was due to his constant care 
of his men. He demanded great things of them and to make 
certain the result of their work he made it a part of his daily 
business to know that they were well cared for. He looked 
upon his men as a part of himself, and as time passed and 
victory after victory was won, his regard for his men took 
on the form of sincere affection. Proof of this was shown at 
the time Sheridan was relieved of command in the Shenandoah 

89 



Valley and ordered to the command of the cavalry corps of 
the Army of the Potomac. Speaking of this event, Sheridan 
said that he was so overcome by the thought of separation 
from his brave men that he did not dare trust himself to take a 
formal farewell of them, and with heavy heart he quietly 
departed for the new field of duty. 

Albany has good right to be proud of her distinction as the 
birthplace of Philip H. Sheridan, whose every act reflected 
credit upon the city and his native land, and whose distin- 
guished military career established his fame throughout the 
civilized world. 

My friends, the hour is growing late and I know that you 
must be weary, so I shall not longer delay you than to pay 
special respect to the ladies present. I observe in this great 
congregation many women whose presence is unmistakable 
proof of their interest in everything appertaining to good 
government, and of their regard and sympathy for the men 
who participated in the dreadful struggle for the preservation 
of the Union. In those dark, uncertain days the women 
were the guardian angels of the men on the battle line. With- 
out their aid and sympathy, without their affection and 
devotion the men who did the fighting would have fought in 
vain. The presence of the women on this peaceful occasion 
is a joy and inspiration. They are welcome here; they are 
always welcome wherever veterans of the Civil War assemble, 
and too much cannot be said in their praise. 

I sincerely thank you for your patient and respectful 
attention. 

The Right Reverend Richard H. Nelson, bishop of the 
Episcopal diocese of Albany, then pronounced the benedic- 
tion. This was followed by a salute by the United States 
artillery and the singing of the " Star Spangled Banner." 

90 






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RECEPTION AT EXECUTIVE 
MANSION 

FROM the time of their arrival in Albany, Mrs. Sheridan 
and her daughter, Miss Mary Sheridan, as the principal 
honor guests of the occasion, were warmly welcomed 
and entertained by the people of the city. They were met at 
the railroad station by a committee consisting of Gen. Amasa 
J. Parker, John Farnsworth and Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. 
Visscher, and conveyed to the Ten Eyck hotel. The visitors 
spent the first evening with Mrs. John E. McElroy, who was 
a sister of the late Chester A. Arthur, president of the United 
States. As the " Lady of the White House " during her 
brother's administration Mrs. McElroy was an intimate friend 
of Mrs. Sheridan. 

After the unveiling ceremony Mrs. Sheridan and Miss 
Sheridan were the guests of Mrs. Whitman at the executive 
mansion, at a tea and reception given in their honor. Among 
those present at the mansion to meet the visitors were: Mrs. 
J. Harris Loucks, Mrs. George Curtis Treadwell, Mrs. Justus 
Davis, Mrs. Edgar A. Vander Veer, Mrs. Peter G. Ten Eyck, 
Mrs. Ben V. Smith, Mrs. Edward B. Cantine, Mrs. Harold J. 
Hinman, Mrs. James A. Wendell, Mrs. Charles Van Merrick, 
Mrs. Charles M. Winchester, Mrs. Roelif H. Brooks, Mrs. 
Edward W. Visscher, Mrs. M. L. Ryder, Mrs. John S. 
McEwan and Mrs. Clarence E. Mullens. Other guests were 
Mrs. Peter J. Callan, Mrs. Russel Headley, Mrs. William A. 

91 



Wheeler, Mrs. Francis Shields, Miss Marion Cantine, Mrs. 
Frederick W. Cameron, Mrs. Oliver A. Quayle, Miss Edith 
Quayle, Mrs. Francis M. Hugo, Mrs. Fannie J. Bailey, Mrs. 
Warren L. Bradt, Mrs. A. T. Palmer, Mrs. James M. Morris, 
Mrs. A. A. Dayton, Mrs. A. S. Newcomb, Mrs. Edgar C. 
Leonard, Mrs. William A. Murray, Miss Mary B. Lambert, 
Mrs. Ralph Parker, Mrs. Robert Adams, Mrs. G. D. Burdick, 
Mrs. A. M. Brown, Mrs. William G. Furlong, Mrs. David B. 
Comstock, Miss Nan Cotrell, Mrs. Frank A. McNamee, Mrs. 
Parkes D. Wendell, Mrs. R. G. Finch, Mrs. John Suderly of 
Coeymans, Mrs. E. H. Gallup, Miss Helen Dearstyne, Mrs. 
Montgomery Throop, Mrs. Randall J. Le Boeuf, Mrs. William 
J. McKown, Miss Sprong, Mrs. Charles C. De Rouville, Mrs. 
C. T. Whitman, Mrs. Harold Hayford, Mrs. Henry Hudson, 
Miss Lydia Hotaling. 



92 



DINNER AT THE TEN EYCK 

MRS. SHERIDAN and her daughter were escorted by 
a committee to the mezzanine floor of the Ten 
Eyck hotel in the evening, to Usten to the speeches 
at the dinner given by the PhiUp H. Sheridan Camp, Sons of 
Veterans. The dinner was the last number on the program 
of the unveiling ceremonies. Addresses were delivered by 
Governor Charles S. Whitman, former Governor Benjamin B. 
Odell, former Governor Martin H. Glynn, General J. Warren 
Keifer, Mayor Joseph W. Stevens, William Barnes, J. Harris 
Loucks and Edward B. Cantine. 

General Keifer, who commanded a division of Pennsylvania 
troops at the battle of Cedar Creek, under Sheridan, gave an 
interesting account of events when Sheridan made his famous 
ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek and saved the day for 
the Union army. 
Those who attended the dinner were: 

TABLE A 

Hon. Charles S. Whitman. Hon. Joseph W. Stevens. 

Mr. J. Harris Loucks. General Zan L. Tidball. 

General J. Warren Keifer. General Nelson A. Miles. 

Dr. Roelif H. Brooks. Hon. Benjamin B. Odell. 

Hon. William Barnes. Hon. Martin H. Glynn. 

Hon. Edward B. Cantine. 

TABLE No. 1 
Mr. Charles M. Winchester. Hon. Thaddeus C. Sweet. 

Mr. John Famsworth. Hon. James A. Parsons. 

Lieut-Col. Loriliard Spencer. Mr. George A. Cantine. 

Hon. Egburt Woodbury. 
93 



TABLE No. 2 

Col. Chauncey P. Williams. Lieut.-Col. William Taylor. 

Col. George Curtis Treadwell. Captain Karl Isburg. 

General W. W. Wotherspoon. Col. James H. Manning. 

Col. James W. Andrews. 



Mr. E. W. Visscher. 
Mr. James A. Wendell. 
Mr. Thomas Ward. 
Mr. William L. Visscher. 



TABLE No. 3 

Mr. Frank A. Hoyt. 
Mr. A. W. Fuller. 
Col. Franklin W. Ward. 
Dr. George A. Sullivan. 



Mr. Ben V. Smith. 
Dr. James N. Vander Veer. 
Mr. William G. Furlong. 
Dr. J. L Dowling. 



Mr. Joseph C. McClelland. 
Mr. Edwin W. Sanford. 
Mr. William E. Foskett. 
Mr. William J. Kattrein. 



Mr. Clifford S. Sims. 
Hon. Lynn J. Arnold. 
Hon. Cornelius F. Burns. 
Hon. William P. Rudd. 



Mr. Walter J. Fitzpatrick. 
Mr. Russell Suter. 
Mr. William Briggs. 
Mr. Charles P. Wagoner. 



Mr. Ellis J. Staley. 
Mr. Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. 
Hon. Charles S. Wilson. 
Mr. Alwin C. Quentel. 



TABLE No. 4 

Mr. Thomas F. Behan. 
Mr. Charles C. DeRouville. 
Mr. Warren L. Bradt. 
Mr. Nicholas T. Brady. 

TABLE No. 5 

Mr. John H. Kattrein. 
Mr. Hanford C. Whitbeck. 
Mr. Franz Sigel. 
Dr. Ralph Sheldon. 

TABLE No. 6 

Mr. Oliver A. Quayle. 
Hon. Peter G. Ten Eyck. 
Dr. Albert Vander Veer. 
General Amasa J. Parker. 

TABLE No. 7 

Mr. John A. Palmer. 
Mr. Charles V. Merrick. 
Mr. Arthur P. Smith. 
Mr. George E. Cantine. 

TABLE No. 8 

Hon. Frank M. Williams. 
Hon. Louis L Waldman. 
Mr. Charles M. Stern. 
Mr. George A. White. 
94 



Hon. James R. Watt. 
Mr. Philip Bender. 
Mr. Valentine Komfort. 
Hon. Henry Hirschfeld. 



Mr. Luther C. Warner. 
Mr. Warren S. Hastings. 
Hon. Rollin B. Sanford. 
Hon. Harold J. Hinman. 



TABLE No. 9 

Hon. Edward J. Halter. 
Mr. Walter L. Hutchins. 
Mr. Perla S. Kling. 
Mr. David E. Pugh. 

TABLE No. 10 

Dr. James F. Rooney. 
Hon. Henry M. Sage. 
Mr. Thurlow Weed Barnes, Jr. 
Mr. Louis F. O'Neil. 



Dr. Clarence E. Mullens. 
Dr. Edward G. Cox. 
Mr. Harry Simmons. 
Mr. Harry G. Eyres. 



Mr. Morton Havens, Jr. 
Mr. O. F. Kinney. 
Mr. John F. Heidenreich. 
Mr. George Heidenreich. 



TABLE No. 11 

Mr. Howard Townsend Terrell. 
Mr. Arnold G. Chapman. 
Mr. Harman W. Warner. 
Mr. Frank L. Reuss. 

TABLE No. 12 

Mr. Charles P. Brett. 
Mr. George D. Elwell. 
Dr. A. B. Van Loon. 
Mr. George E. Green. 



Mr. John S. McEwan. 
Dr. Edgar A. Vander Veer. 
Mr. R. M. Chalmers. 
Mr. C. B. Staats. 



TABLE No. 13 

Mr. Carl H. Graf. 
Dr. Vander Veer (guest). 
Mr. Willard M. Douglas. 
Mr. Frank A. McNamee. 



Mr. Frank E. Dodds. 
Mr. John M. Taylor. 
Mr. Leo M. Lasch. 



TABLE No. 14 

Mr. William P. Davis. 
Mr. James D. Shoemaker. 
Mr. William F. Campion. 



Major Oscar Smith. 
Col. William H. Terrell. 
Col. Lewis R. Stegman. 
Col. Clinton Beckwith. 



TABLE No. 15 

Col. Solomon Russell. 
Mr. John M. Walker. 
Mr. Edward B. Roe. 
Mr. Henry Hudson. 
95 



Mr. Charles A. Tremmel. 
Mr. John A. Langan. 
Mr. Daniel W. Spillane. 
Mr. Lewis E. Carr, Jr. 



Mr. George C. Hawley. 
Mr. M. L. Ryder. 



Mr. William E. Burnham. 
Mr. Thomas Aldrich. 
Mr. J. B. Dutcher. 



Mr. John G. Crary. 
Mr. Charles McTigue. 



Mr. Alden P. Coates. 
Mr. Andrew Schreiber. 
Mr. Bowen Staley. 
Mr. William B. Coates. 



TABLE No. 16 

Mr. Thomas G. Kenny. 
Mr. Ambrose J. Boylan. 
Mr. Ben Franklin. 
Mr. John A. McArthur. 

TABLE No. 17 

Mr. Walter Melius. 
Mr Fred C. Rockwell. 
Mr. William S. Hackett. 

TABLE No. 18 

Mr. George N. Sheridan. 
Mr. Albert O. True. 
Mr. Peter Shoemaker. 

TABLE No. 19 

Newspaper Men 

Mr. Edward Bates. 
Mr. Michael V. Dolan. 

TABLE No. 20 

Mr. Gustavus Sniper. 
Mr. Louis L. Gowdy. 
Mr. William Peters. 
Hon. John G. Malone. 



The Rev. Roelif H. Brooks, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal 
church, Albany, said grace: 

O God, our Father, from Whom all good things do come, 
make us mindful of the sacrifices which men have made to 
protect this great nation which we believe has been singularly 
blessed by Thee and over which there has ever been Thy 
protecting care. We are grateful for the opportunity which 
this day has offered to honor a man and a soldier who gave 
of his services that the Union might be preserved. We thank 
Thee for these gifts of Thy mercy to us. Bless this food to 
our use and sanctify us to Thy service. For Christ's sake we 
ask it. Amen. 

96 



During the dinner George D. Elwell, assisted by Ben 
Franklin, led in the singing of hymns and songs of the Civil 
War. Mr. Loucks was toastmaster. At the beginning of his 
speech Governor Whitman paid a graceful compliment to 
Mrs. Sheridan, who, with her daughter, sat in the balcony of 
the dining-room, surrounded by about two hundred women 
who had taken an active part in the day's proceedings. The 
governor asked the diners to rise and drink a toast to Mrs. 
Sheridan. He invited Mrs. Sheridan to stand, whereat the 
diners cheered and waved their napkins in honor of the widow 
of Sheridan. 

Governor Whitman said he hesitated to speak in the pres- 
ence of so many men who had served under General Sheridan, 
referring to General Keifer, General Miles, Mayor Stevens 
and other veterans at the dinner. " I congratulate Sheridan 
Camp, the city of Albany and State of New York in the 
erection of the statue," said the governor, who spoke briefly. 



97 



REMARKS BY WILLIAM BARNES 

William Barnes, in part, said : 

Sheridan was not concerned with public opinion. He was 
following his instructions. No picture of himself which might 
exist in the minds of others interested him. He was con- 
cerned solely with his duty. He was as we say nowadays, in 
common speech, " on his job." Others might think what 
they like — that was not his affair. 

This note of singleness of purpose which we find in Sheridan 
was conspicuous in the life of the time. It was upheld as the 
ideal of human character. Lack of it was despised. Few 
public men were able to run the gamut of a public career 
who did not possess it. The man whose act did not conform 
with his word, was soon relegated to private life. Lack of 
coherence between promise and conduct was the unpardon- 
able sin. 

It is interesting that only in time of war this virtue, vital 
as it is to human achievement and happiness at all times, 
discloses its greatest vigor. The stress of conflict involves 
the maintenance of faith. The spirit of nationality with 
which Sheridan and the others were imbued, held them in the 
grip of truth. In them, engaged in violent conflict to protect 
the whole, that the individual might continue to live, free 
within the whole, the vices of peace had no chance to 
grow. 

It is well that we should commemorate in monument our 
Sheridans. It is well that the spirit of nationality should be 
kept alert and vigorous by examination of past achievement 

98 



and patriotism, that we may not fail in the realization of the 
truth that we live in jeopardy, and that that jeopardy can 
be reduced to a minimum only by the spirit of a gallant, self- 
reliant and responsible people. Not in envy of others, not in 
malice towards those who have succeeded, not in jealousy of 
fame, can a free people continue to maintain their freedom 
of existence. 



99 



REMARKS BY GENERAL J. WARREN 

KEIFER 

General Keifer complimented Governor Whitman and others 
assembled on the success of the unveiling of the splendid 
equestrian statue to General Sheridan. He spoke of his per- 
sonal acquaintance, begun in the Civil War, with Generals 
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan; also Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A. 
Miles, U. S. A. (who was present), and others of the great 
commanders of the Civil War, distinguishing the different 
types of commanders they represented, particularly that of 
General Sheridan, from other also successful leaders of armies 
in campaigns and battles. In substance, among other things, 
he said : 

Sheridan at the outbreak of the Civil War was a lieutenant 
on the Pacific coast. His patriotism and ambition led him 
to write a friend that he hoped he could, during the war, do 
something to raise him to the rank of a major in the United 
States army. This vaulting ambition he never enjoyed. He 
became a captain, a colonel, brigadier-general and major- 
general of volunteers, during the war; and a brigadier-general, 
major-general, lieutenant-general and general of the United 
States army, which last rank he held at his death. His only 
predecessors who held the rank of general in the United States 
army were Washington, Grant and Sherman, and he has had 
no successor in that rank; it was abolished by law. 

Others have spoken of Sheridan's early entry in the Civil 
War, and his activities in the Mississippi Valley under Grant, 

100 



and under General Rosecrans and others in the West, where 
he displayed that capacity to lead and successfully fight battles 
which distinguished him throughout the war of the rebellion. 
While he did not become especially prominent at the front 
until in the last of the four years of the Civil War, his later 
superior eminence was always foreshadowed in all his opera- 
tions even when he was a subordinate, commanding cavalry 
or infantry in large or in minor engagements. It must be 
remembered that to be a successful leader in minor campaigns 
and battles often requires the exercise of the highest military 
skill as well as the most intelligent bravery. Bravery, neces- 
sary and important as it always is in an officer, is still minor 
in importance to steady poise and skill in putting an army 
into battle and in getting the best results from it while the 
conflict lasts, and, if victorious, in securing the best fruits 
of success, and, if defeated, in so handling his troops as to 
prevent disaster. 

Sheridan was the embodiment of confidence in himself and 
in success, and this enabled him to imbue his army with a 
like confidence in him. 

The intelligent American subordinate officers and private 
soldiers easily understand the spirit and skill of those over 
them, and, if satisfied with them, the utmost effort will be 
put forth to attain victory. Sheridan did not order his army 
to fight battles; he led it into battle, and attended and par- 
ticipated in the conflict to the end. 

A marked distinguishing element in Sheridan's conduct of a 
battle was to confide in his corps, division, brigade, etc., 
commanders; and to give them wide discretion to meet sudden 
crises in a battle, and to avail themselves of opportunities 
for successful attack in his absence and without orders. His 
army was, however, fought as a unit; no part of it was allowed 
to be sacrificed while another substantial part of it was idly 

101 



looking on, as was the case at Antietam and other earher 
bloody, but badly fought, battles. 

Perhaps Sheridan's immortal fame as a successful military 
hero rests largely on his achievements at Opequon (Sept. 19, 
1864), Fisher's Hill (Sept. 22, 1864), and Cedar Creek (Oct. 19, 
1864). 

(T. Buchanan Read's poem — " Sheridan's Ride " — 
helped to immortalize Sheridan.) 

These battles each ended with the day, and each was a 
complete defeat of the Confederate army under Gen. Jubal A. 
Early, composed of experienced troops; its corps, divisions, 
brigades, etc., commanded by the most celebrated Confed- 
erate officers, such as Gen. John C. Breckenridge, John B. 
Gordon, Kershaw, Ramseur, and others. 

Victories in the Civil War in 1864 and later were not won 
by accident, but by skill and hard fighting and the sacrifice 
of much blood and life. 

Sheridan's career did not end in the Shenandoah Valley. 
The early spring of 1865 (March) found him again, with the 
army under Grant, and the army of the Potomac under 
General Meade, in command of the Union cavalry, confronting 
General Lee, fortified in front of Richmond and Petersburg, Va. 

At Five Forks (April 1, 1865), commanding both infantry 
and cavalry, under great difficulties and disadvantages he won 
the initial battle, against odds, that led to the evacuation of 
Petersburg and Richmond; the flight of Jefferson Davis, 
president of the Confederacy, and his cabinet from Richmond, 
its capital; the retreat of General Lee's army; its signal defeat 
(April 6, 1865) at Sailor's Creek (the last field battle of the 
Civil War), Sheridan with his cavalry participating in the 
battle, and the capitulation of the Confederate army under 
General Lee (April 9, 1865) at Appomattox Courthouse, and 
the practical ending of the Civil War, the downfall of the 

102 



Confederacy and the restoration of the Union of the 
States. 

Early on the morning of April 9, 1865, the encompassing 
Union forces, with battle flags and guidons leaning to the 
front while charging, under Sheridan's leadership and orders, 
upon the last stand of General Lee's gallant and well-com- 
manded army, were halted by the display of a white flag ; and 
the surrender at Appomattox followed. 

Sheridan thus participated in the momentous closing scene 
of the long, bloody, costly Civil War, which, in the providence 
of God, re-cemented the Union of the States of our great 
republic, in which harmony, peace and prosperity now uni- 
versally prevail in a degree unparalleled in the world's history. 

Sheridan's personal characteristics, though peculiar to him- 
self, marked him for leadership and success in war. He had 
no ulterior purposes to accomplish for himself. His devotion 
was to his country and to its institutions. He was honest and 
frank, even to bluntness. That he was ambitious to succeed 
and to win a name and fame for himself and those who served 
with and under him, is to his credit. 

True greatness is never attained unmixed with persona 
ambition and pride. 

He was not of the type or temperament of Grant, or of 
Sherman, or of Meade, or of Thomas, or of other great generals 
of the Civil War who fairly won renown. 

It is more than doubtful whether General Grant, the great 
leader of them all, could have filled General Sheridan's place 
in leading, personally, large bodies of cavalry in battle, or 
even by personal presence in the conflict of battle inspiring 
those under him to deeds of valor; and the same may be said 
as to General Sherman, whose fiery spirit more nearly corre- 
sponded to that of Sheridan. General Meade, who success- 
fully, within five days of his succeeding to the command of 

103 



the Army of the Potomac, met and overthrew General Lee's 
then confident army at Gettysburg, hardly possessed the 
essential and intrepid qualities of Sheridan to have filled his 
place and accomplished the same or equivalent results at the 
head of cavalry or otherwise. General Thomas, who, with 
his sturdy poise and inspiring steadiness, won, in the presence 
of disaster, the designation " The Rock of Chickamauga," 
could hardly have attained the varied success accorded 
Sheridan. 

So of other great generals of the Civil War. 

On the other hand, it is fair to say that Sheridan might not, 
if he had been called on to perform the high duties and to fill 
the important places any one of these famous officers filled, 
have succeeded in the same degree each such officer did. 

This is not saying anything to lessen the fame and glory 
each and all these great heroes achieved. Together, with their 
diverse characters and attainments, they, in necessary coop- 
eration, achieved that success this nation and all mankind will 
enjoy, let us hope, forevermore. 

I take occasion to again thank the commission, and all others 
in authority, for the honor of an invitation to be present on 
this occasion to meet the distinguished persons here assembled 
and to witness the unveiling of the statue to my friend and 
one-time commander, one of the most famous military heroes 
of the ages, a typical representative product of our country, 
developed from humble citizenship, possible only under the 
benign equal individual, political and civil liberty enjoyed 
and guaranteed by the constitution and laws of our free 
republic. 



104 



REMARKS BY HON. BENJAMIN B. 

ODELL 

Benjamin B. Odell, former governor of the State, said: 

It is always a pleasure to meet the men who have had a 
large part in the history of our country; who have contributed 
by their valor and their courage in upholding that which is 
the cardinal principle of a true democracy and of a republican 
form of government. 

While many are still spared to gladden the hearts of the 
men of liberty-loving impulses by their presence, alas, the 
great majority of those who were the leaders in that great 
struggle between the North and South have long since 
answered the call and have joined the innumerable throng. 
While men may die, the memory of their deeds and achieve- 
ments lives after them, and through a succession of ages those 
who are the beneficiary of their sacrifices should keep before 
them those deeds and achievements that serve to stimulate 
patriotism, as well as to mold American citizenship along 
those higher lines which were laid down and were the aims of 
the founders of our republic. 

Albany in all of the earlier periods of the colonial times, 
down to the present, has occupied a conspicuous place in the 
history of the United States. Perhaps no one, however, has 
imparted a greater luster to this city than he whom we love 
to call the hero of Winchester; that great leader of men whose 
mere presence was always an omen of victory upon the 
battlefields. 

105 



We are not a nation that seeks renown in the cannon's 
mouth; we are slow to anger, maintaining at all times in our 
individual, as well as our national character, a poise that is 
often misunderstood, but when roused into activity knows no 
other end than victory, an absolute victory that brings to our 
country lasting and enduring peace. 

War is a terrible calamity; one in these latter days that 
brings with it greater horrors, more devastation and ruin. 
There is progression in the art of warfare, as in all other 
branches of trades, of science and of arts. 

The Civil War revolutionized, through the inventive genius 
of Americans, this art, just as today American genius is 
responsible for much that has occurred abroad, and for that 
which has made the mailed fist more terrible, the toll of death 
more appalling than ever before in the world's history. 

To keep alive all that goes to make up patriotic impulses, 
there is nothing so potent as in recounting the deeds of our 
great men, to measure their achievements and to keep ever 
before the young the example of their lives, to the end that 
the Republic may continue and exist in spite of pessimism 
of the weak, the anarchy of those who confound freedom with 
license, and in spite of that modern conglomeration of humanity 
— the genus pacifists. 

Memorials, such as we have dedicated today, would fail 
of their purpose were the object of the demonstration which 
we have witnessed the mere pandering to personal vanity 
rather than that there should always be something to com- 
mand the attention of the young, that would serve to awaken 
within their minds a desire for not alone knowledge, but 
also to inspire emulation that leads people to gratefully 
commemorate in enduring bronze the deeds of men who 
unselfishly devoted their lives to the happiness of their 
fellow men. 

106 



A nation never can endure unless it has respect for its 
heroes. Its end is near when its citizenship becomes icono- 
clastic or carping critics. Whatever, therefore, serves to 
awaken inquiry, to make our patriotism more intense, is or 
should be the object of every man who has the future of our 
country at heart. 

One should be impressed by the story of the battles as 
recounted by General Keifer, an active participant with 
Sheridan in his campaign, as well as by the facts of history 
that the devotion of Sheridan and his followers was an unselfish 
devotion with little thought of future glory, but intense ambi- 
tion for present success. This it was that made victory cer- 
tain; that has enshrined Sheridan along with Grant and 
Sherman among the heroes of the dark days of 1861 to 1865. 

The people of Albany should be proud of the fact that from 
her purlieus there should have come so distinguished a par- 
ticipant in that great struggle; that among the directory of 
famous men one of her citizens should occupy so foremost a 
place. 

Standing as it does, this statue will always be a reminder 
of those great sacrifices that were necessary in order not only 
to reconstruct, but to read into our constitution and into 
our laws the fact that liberty in our country is not a mis- 
nomer, but means the enjoyment by all, without reference 
to creed or color, of freedom to the fullest extent. 

This is the result of Sheridan's devotion. To us comes 
the duty of maintaining and upholding that which was made 
possible by the sacrifice of the men who live today by their 
deeds, and whose force is manifested by the patriotism of 
the American people devoted to all that is necessary to per- 
petuate our Republic. 



107 




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INCIDENTS OF THE UNVEILING 
CEREMONIES 

BRIG.-GEN. MICHAEL V. SHERIDAN, brother of 
Philip H. Sheridan, who resides in Carlisle, Pa., was 
unable to attend the ceremonies. In reply to the 
invitation sent by the committee General Sheridan wrote: 

Brig.-Gen. Michael V. Sheridan regrets that because of 
advanced years and failing health he is unable to accept the 
kind invitation of the Sheridan monument commission of the 
State of New York to be present at the unveiling of the statue 
of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, on October 7, 1916, in Albany 
N. Y. 

Carlisle, Pa., October 2, 1916. 

General Sheridan, when he wrote, was 76 years old. He 
was with his distinguished brother throughout the Civil War, 
and was on his personal staff in the Shenandoah Valley 
campaign. 

One of the eminent soldiers who attended the unveiling was 
Gen. Nelson A. Miles, major-general retired, who resides at 
Washington. He won distinction in the Civil War at Reams 
Station, Va., for which he was promoted to brigadier-general, 
and for service at Chancellorsville, where he was severely 
wounded. He also was famous as an Indian fighter against 
Chiefs Sitting Bull and Geronimo in the west. 

109 



Gen. J. Warren Keifer, one of the guests, served as an officer 
in the Civil War from April 27, 1861, to June 27, 1865: first 
(1861) in Virginia (now West Virginia), under Generals 
McClellan and Rosecrans, then under Generals Buell, Mitchell 
and other generals in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama (1862) ; 
and again, in the last months of 1862, in what is now West 
Virginia, under Generals Rosecrans and Milroy; then during 
January and succeeding months to June 15, 1863, in the 
Shenandoah Valley (Winchester), under General Milroy; and 
then under General French at Harper's Ferry and Mary- 
land Heights, joining, with his command, the Third Army 
Corps, July 6, 1863, then commanded by General French. 

Thereafter General Keifer served in the Army of the 
Potomac, commanded by General Meade, participating in its 
campaigns and battles to the surrender of General Lee at 
Appomattox, April 9, 1865, and to the end of the war. 

General Keifer' s personal acquaintance with and service 
under General Sheridan in campaigns and battles enabled him 
to speak of his distinguished qualities as a great soldier and 
commander. 

James Tanner, register of wills at Washington, D. C, 
known throughout Grand Army circles as Corporal Tanner, 
was among those invited to the Sheridan unveiling. In 
replying to Edward B. Cantine he said his infirmities, owing 
to a recent operation, would prevent his attendance. Mr. 
Tanner was born at Richmond ville, Schoharie county, N. Y., 
in 1844. He enlisted when a boy and lost both legs in the 
second battle of Bull Run. 



no 



R. W. Edwards, writing from 567 Sixth avenue, Troy, 
said: " I was a bugler in a famous old regiment that served 
as Sheridan's personal escort during six months of his hottest 
campaign and still possess the last of my old trumpets." 



Edward Leary, 85 years old, residing at 273 Elm street, 
Albany, wrote: 

Early in April, 1865, the battle of Five Forks was fought 
and it was the last. The Fifth Corps was forming for battle 
when the " Little Tiger," as we called him, rode from left to 
right on our front. The air was full of rebel bullets, and 
Sheridan cried out: "General Warren, I relieve you from 
further command." Sheridan took charge of the corps and 
was with us until the end. Later in the day, when we were 
ankle-deep in mud, he called out: "Boys, boys, you are 
working hard, I know; but keep it up. I will have Lee and 
his whole damned army in twenty-four hours." And he did. 
Sure enough, at seven o'clock the next morning we saw the 
flag of distress hanging from a tree. 



Edward C. Garner, another of the Albany Sheridan vet- 
erans, told how he had carried an important message to 
General Sheridan at Five Forks: 

While we were reconnoitering near Gravelly Run about the 
first of April, 1865, my lieutenant startled me with the exclama- 
tion, " There are the Johnnies." He asked me if I could get 
to General Sheridan, some distance away, with a message, and 
back to my company in safety. I swung onto my horse, 
" Little Mack," named after General McClellan, and galloped 
to Five Forks, where I found Sheridan on his horse. I didn't 

111 



dismount, but, saluting, said: "Here is a message from 
Lieutenant Crasper." Sheridan ordered me to wait — I think 
he wanted me to guide him to the ambushed rebels — but when 
he came back he did not find me, for I was on the way back 
to my regiment. 



Mayor Joseph W. Stevens of Albany served under Sheridan 
in the Forty-third New York regiment and took part in seven 
engagements. Speaking of the famous ride from Winchester 
to Cedar Creek, the mayor said: 

I was on the left of my regiment which rested on the Win- 
chester pike when Sheridan arrived. He stopped his foam- 
spattered and tired horse within forty feet of me. He stayed 
there a few minutes and talked to some of the officers, then 
rode away, but came back shortly on a fresh horse. 

He again stopped near me and talked with the officers 
about the action, wheeled, and with his head down on the 
neck of his horse for protection he dashed down the front of 
our line with the Confederate army in full view until he 
reached an opening in a fence where he turned in and joined 
his staff in the rear. 

This was about eleven o'clock in the morning and he at 
once ordered a charge which was successful. When he reached 
the Union forces at eleven o'clock he found a defeated and 
disorganized army, but by three o'clock in the afternoon he 
had reorganized the army, brought up his artillery and turned 
defeat into victory. 

Silas Hooghkerk of Albany also remembers seeing Sheridan 
when he made his famous ride from Winchester. Mr. 
Hooghkerk said: 

112 



I can see General Sheridan now as he rode along the line 
on that eventful day in October. He finally came to Major 
Wood and said to him: " What spirits are the boys in? " to 
which Major Wood replied, " Damned bad, general." 

Then Sheridan dashed up and down the line calling out to 
the troops as he passed: 

" Boys, keep up good courage, you'll be on your old camp 
ground tonight." 

And we were on our old camp ground that night, and our 
regiment took 1,000 prisoners that day with all the Confed- 
erate artillery and a lot of artillery that they had formerly 
captured from us. 

Sheridan really won the battle by a clever ruse. He told 
us to cheer as we charged, and every mother's son of us did. 
The Confederates thought Sheridan had brought reinforce- 
ments, and fell back to Fisher's Hill. 



113 



SHERIDAN'S RIDE 

NOTHING that has been written about Gen. PhiUp H. 
Sheridan has done so much to place him among the 
miUtary heroes of the nation as the poem " Sheridan's 
Ride," by Thomas Buchanan Read. The ride from Win- 
chester to Cedar Creek was made October 19, 1864, and the 
great feat of Sheridan in turning, as he did, a defeat into a 
victory for the Union side, electrified the North and had 
brought from President Lincoln a telegram of thanks to 
Sheridan. Six days after the battle of Cedar Creek — October 
25 — there was opened in Cincinnati, Ohio, a sanitary relief 
fair. James E. Murdoch, one of the citizens interested in 
the success of the fair and a friend of Mr. Read, the poet, 
then visiting in the city, urged him to write an original poem 
for the opening ceremonies. He showed him newspaper 
accounts and pictures already appearing of Sheridan's ride, 
and suggested that the event was a good theme for a poem. 
Mr. Read at first demurred, remarking that " rides " had 
been done to death. But Murdoch continued to urge him, 
expressing faith in his ability to turn out something worth 
while. Mr. Read retired to his room and in three hours and 
a half composed the poem as it finally appeared, with the 
exception of the third verse. Lacking this verse it was read 
by Mr. Read at the fair that night and created great enthu- 
siasm. William Cullen Bryant, then a poet of world-wide 
fame, complimented Mr. Read, predicting that " Sheridan's 
Ride " would live as long as Sir Walter Scott's " Lochinvar." 

115 



SHERIDAN'S RIDE 

By Thomas Buchanan Read 

Up from the south at break of day, 
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay, 
The affrighted air with a shudder bore, 
Like a herald in haste to the chieftain's door, 
The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar. 
Telling the battle was on once more. 
And Sheridan twenty miles away. 

And wider still those billows of war 
Thundered along the horizon's bar; 
And louder yet into Winchester rolled 
The roar of that red sea uncontrolled ; 
Making the blood of the listener cold. 
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray 
And Sheridan twenty miles away. 

But there is a road from Winchester town, 
A good broad highway leading down; 
And there, through the flush of the morning light, 
A steed as black as the steeds of night 
Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight. 
As if he knew the terrible need; 
He stretched away with his utmost speed; 
Hills rose and fell; but his heart was gay, 
With Sheridan fifteen miles away. 

Still sprang from those swift hoofs, thundering south 
The dust, like smoke from the cannon's mouth, 
Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster, 
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster. 
The heart of the steed and the heart of the master 
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls, 
Impatient to be where the battlefield calls; 
Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play, 
With Sheridan only ten miles away. 
116 



Under his spurning feet the road, 
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed, 
And the landscape sped away behind 
Like an ocean flying before the wind; 
And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace ire. 
Swept on, with his wild eye full of fire, 
But lo he is nearing his heart's desire: 
He is snufling the smoke of the roaring fray. 
With Sheridan only five miles away. 

The first that the general saw were the groups 

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops; 

What was done? What to do? A glance told him both. 

Then striking his spurs with a terrible oath. 

He dashed down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas, 

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because 

The sight of the master compelled it to pause. 

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray; 

By the flash of his eye and the red nostrils' play 

He seemed to the whole great army to say 

" I have brought you Sheridan all the way 

From Winchester down, to save the day." 

Hurrah! hurrah! for Sheridan! 

Hurrah! hurrah! for horse and man! 

And when their statues are placed on high. 

Under the dome of the Union sky. 

The American soldier's Temple of Fame, 

There with the glorious general's name. 

Be it said, in letters both bold and bright — 

" Here is the steed that saved the day 

By carrying Sheridan into the fight. 

From Winchester, twenty miles away." 



117 



VP.JUP V.rMKY SH^RI. 



"Deed 7\(oi,qam<^^Q^'u^tJ(^m^ 



TFf E CTTrZF.K^S OF A LEANT 

ond 

THE S'TATE OF HEW YORK 

binder Cfapfer iOO offJ\e<y/^§Jujcofi9H 

COMMJSSJONERS 
(Govern ors [cj^,ficy^:ff(y,, 

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PLATE ON THE PEDESTAL 



LAW AUTHORIZING THE 
MONUMENT 

LAWS 1914, CHAPTER 100 

An Act to provide for the erection of a monument to the 
memory of General Philip H. Sheridan in Capitol park 
in the city of Albany, and making an appropriation 
therefor. 
Section 1. The trustees of public buildings, the attorney- 
general and three members, to be designated by the governor, 
of Philip H. Sheridan camp number two hundred. Division 
of New York, Sons of Veterans, United States of America, 
are hereby created a commission to purchase and erect a suit- 
able monument to the memory of General Philip H. Sheridan, 
on a site to be selected by the commission in Capitol park 
in the city of Albany. The governor shall be chairman of 
the commission. Such commission shall cause plans and 
designs for such monument to be made and submitted to it, 
and shall select therefrom the plan and design most suitable 
in its opinion, for the purpose contemplated, and shall cause 
such monument to be erected, in accordance with such plan 
and design, or a modification thereof, at an expense not to 
exceed the aggregate of the amount appropriated by this 
act and contributed by private subscriptions as provided 
herein. 

119 



§ 2. The sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or so 
much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated 
out of any moneys in the state treasury, not otherwise appro- 
priated, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this 
act, but no part of such money shall be available until there 
shall have been raised by private subscription not less than 
ten thousand dollars for the purpose specified in this act, and 
such amount shall have been deposited in a bank in the city 
of Albany to the credit of the commission created by this 
act, nor be thereafter available, except for the preparation 
of plans and designs and the necessary advertising expenses, 
if any, until some suitable plan and design shall have been 
approved and accepted by the commission. The money hereby 
appropriated shall be paid by the state treasurer on the war- 
rant of the comptroller, on vouchers approved by the chair- 
man of the commission. 

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 



120 



LIST OF COMMITTEES 

NEW YORK STATE SHERIDAN MONUMENT 
COMMISSION 

The Governor, Charles S. Whitman. 
Lieutenant-Governor, Edward Schoeneck. 
Speaker, Thaddeus C. Sweet. 
Attorney-General, Egburt Woodbury. 
Edward B. Cantine. 
Charles M. Winchester. 
John Farnsworth. 

OFFICERS OF THE JOINT CITIZENS' AND PHILIP 
H. SHERIDAN CAMP No. 200, SONS OF VETERANS, 
SHERIDAN MONUMENT COMMITTEE 

Honorable Joseph W. Stevens, Mayor City of Albany, Chairman. 
Honorable Amasa J. Parker, Vice-Chairman. 
J. Harris Loucks, Secretary. 
William L. Gillespie, Treasurer. 



Edward B. Cantine. Capt. Oscar Smith. 

John Farnsworth. Harold J. Hinman. 

John S. McEwan. John J. Brady. 

RoUin B. Sanford. E. W. Sanford. 

Charles H. Armatage. Edward N. McKinney. 

Charles M. Winchester. Charles V. Merrick. 

Clifford S. Sims. Franklin M. Danaher. 

Ben V. Smith. Executive Committee. 



PHILIP H. SHERIDAN CAMP No. 200, SONS OF 
VETERANS, COMMITTEE 

J. Harris Loucks, Chairman. Edgar A. Vander Veer, M. D. 

Rollin B. Sanford. Ben V. Smith. 

John Farnsworth. 



121 



CITIZENS' COMMITTEE 



Hon. Martin H. Glynn, Honorary 

Chairman. 
Justice Alden Chester. 
Justice William P. Rudd. 
Mayor Joseph W. Stevens. 
Representative Peter G. Ten Eyck. 
Senator Henry M. Sage. 
Harold J. Hinman. 
Assemblyman John G. Malone. 
General Dudley Olcott. 
Robert C. Pruyn. 
General John H. Patterson. 
Lewis E. Carr. 

Capt. William N. S. Sanders. 
Major Oscar Smith. 
John S. McEwan. 
James F. Tracey. 
John A. Dix. 
George C. Van Tuyl. 
D-Cady Herrick. 
Major Herman Bendell. 
Dr. James S. Kittell. 
Dr. Albert Vander Veer. 
Col. James H. Manning. 
William L. Visscher. 
George C. Hawley. 
Edward W. Visscher. 
Edmund N. Huyck. 
William J. Fripp. 
Charles Gibson. 
Charles H. Armatage. 
James McCredie. 
Dr. Arthur W. Elting. 
Edward N. McKinney. 
William McDonald. 
Oscar Hascy. 
James Cox Brady 
Samuel Hessberg. 

E. Palmer Gavit. 

Major Albert E. Denison. 

Major Harry S. Richmond. 

J. Townsend Lansing. 

Judge George Addington. 

Robert M. Chalmers. 

L D. F. Lansing. 

William Barnes. 

Frederick W. Rockwell. 

Michael V. Dolan. 

James C. Farrell. 

Robert Olcott. 



George H. Thacher. 

Charles V. Merrick. 

Ledyard Cogswell. 

Clarence Rathbone. 

John A. Becker. 

Frank Nolan. 

Patrick E. McCabe. 

Horace S. Bell. 

William S. Hackett. 

John A. Delehanty. 

Dr. Walton W. Battershall. 

William H. Keeler. 

General Amasa J. Parker. 

Arthur L. Andrews. 

Rev. Charles W. Leitzell. 

Charles L. A. Whitney. 

Lynn J. Arnold. 

Albert E. Hoyt. 

Edgar C. Leonard. 

Ellis J. Staley. 

Major Henry C. Littlefield. 

John T. Norton. 

Thomas Hurst. 

William L. Austin. 

Clifford S. Sims. 

Daniel J. Dugan. 

Benjamin W. Arnold. 

Charles P. Brate. 

Frank A. McNamee. 

S. Lyman Munson. 

Robert E. Whalen. 

Frank B. Graves. 

E. Clark King. 

Frank C. Herrick. 

H. LeRoy Austin. 

Parker Corning. 

William L. Gillespie. 

Charles M. Winchester. 

Francis A. Shields. 

William T. Mayer. 

Capt. Albert J. Wing. 

Frederick F. Peabody. 

Edward J. Hussey. 

John J. Brady. 

Walter Launt Palmer. 

Major Harmon Pumpelly Read. 

David A. Thompson. 

Edward Corning. 

Edward B. Cantine. 

Franklin M. Danaher. 

122 



ON GRAND STAND 



Charles V. Merrick, Chairman. 
Peter G. Ten Eyck. 
Joseph F. McClellan. 



William E. Foskett. 
Major E. D. Ronan. 
John Dyer. 



Walter F. Melius. 



ON DECORATIONS 



Robert M. Chalmers, Chairman. 
Frank R. Sherman. 
Edward J. Hussey. 



Willard M. Douglas. 
Edwin T. Coffin. 
William H. Storrs. 



ON PUBLICITY 



Lynn J. Arnold, Chairman. 
Michael V. Dolan. 
Albert E. Hoyt. 
Edwin Corning. 
Leo M. Doody. 
W. H. Brainard. 



James T. Glynn. 
Edward C. Cuyler. 
Frederick T. Cardoze. 
George W. Herrick. 
Edgar A. Vander Veer. 
Frank A. Tierney. 



ON MUSIC 



George D. Elwell, Chairman. 
Prof. Fred D. Kerner. 
Frank C. Herrick. 
Robert E. Whalen. 
Edward Futterer. 



F. A McNamee. 
Thomas G. Kenny. 
N. Lansing de Long. 
Alwin C. Quentel. 
William J. Kattrein. 



Prof. C. Edw. Jones. 



ON ENTERTAINMENT OF VISITING 
ORGANIZATIONS 



Major Oscar Smith, Chairman. 

William S. Fredenrich. 

William Van Rensselaer Erving. 

Dennis B. Kingsley. 

James N. Kemp. 

Major Albert E. Denison. 



Ellis J. Staley. 
Edward J. O'Connell. 
Patrick E. McCabe. 
William S. Hackett. 
William G. Furlong. 
Franklin D. Sargent. 



ON SOUVENIR BADGES 



Ben V. Smith, Chairman. 
William J. Rice 
John F. Heidenrich. 



Andrew Schreiber. 
John H. Callahan. 
Walter L. Hutchins. 
William J. Davison. 



123 



ON CARRIAGES AND AUTOMOBILES 



Chauncey D. Hakes, Chairman. 
John M. Foil. 
E. V. Stratton. 
William G. Allen. 
Henry H. Bennit. 



Westcott Burlingame. 
Joseph Nusbaum. 
L. R. Mack. 
Morton Havens, Jr. 
Perla S. Kling. 



ON TRANSPORTATION 



John S. McEwan, Chairman. 

Hugh A. Arnold. 

Frank B. Graves. 

Clifford S. Sims. 

Charles H. Armatage. 

M. J. Powers. 

George D. Babbitt. 



John T. D. Blackburn. 
Francis E. Dodds. 
William B. Coates. 
A. H. Rennie. 
William S. Randolph. 
Howard J. Curtis. 
James E. Hewes. 



ON PARADE 



J. Harris Loucks, Chairman. 
General Louis W. Stotesbury. 
General Chauncey P. Williams. 
James R. Watt. 
Major Albert E. Denison. 
Ben V. Smith. 



Dr. James N. Vander Veer. 
Alfred V. Kennedy. 
Wallace Greenalch. 
John J. Brady. 
Walter W. Batchelder. 
Major Oscar Smith. 



ON RECEPTION 



General Amasa J. Parker, Chairtnan. 

Martin H. Glynn. 

Edward W. Visscher. 

Dr. Albert Vander Veer. 

John T. Norton. 

Dr. Edward G. Cox. 

George Addington. 

Pancoast Kidder. 

Edward N. McKinney. 

Howard N. Fuller. 

John S. Hoy. 

Frank A. Shields. 

James C. Farrell. 

D-Cady Herrick. 



John A. Delehanty. 
Peter D. Kiernan. 
Robert Olcott. 
Alden Chester. 
William Barnes. 
William P. Rudd. 
B. W. Arnold. 
Charles Gibson. 
Frank T. Charles. 
Clarence E. Newman. 
Rollin B. Sanford. 
David C. Lithgow. 
Will H. Low. 
Walter Launt Palmer. 



124 



Press of 

B. LYON COMPANY 

Albany 



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